Minister: Resignation not aimed at Brown

MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- British Transport Minister Ruth Kelly says her resignation is purely for family reasons and not part of an attempt to bring down Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Kelly, an 11-year Labor Party Member of Parliament, announced her resignation Wednesday at the party's conference in Manchester. Saying she strongly supports Brown, Kelly denied suggestions she had been recruited by unhappy government ministers seeking to stage coordinated resignations to force Brown out of the ruling party's top post, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

Instead, the mother of four said after years of government service she wanted to devote more time to her growing family, telling The Times, "As you can imagine, being a front-line politician bringing up four young children and being a constituency MP has not always been easy."

The Times said Brown's anticipated Cabinet reshuffle, in which he is expected to remove some ministers seen as disloyal, is now highly likely to come next week, before Parliament returns from its summer break.