Brown faces first electoral test; London picks a mayor

LONDON — Britain is heading to the polls in local elections Thursday amid union unrest, falling housing prices and layoffs in London's financial district — the first real electoral test for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

With no general election expected until 2009 or 2010, the municipal contests — which include the race for mayor of London — amount to a key gauge of Brown's strength against David Cameron, the charismatic leader of the Conservatives.

If Brown's governing Labour Party does badly, a growing band of critics within his own camp could be emboldened to raise questions about the wisdom of retaining him as leader for the next national campaign.

Brown, who as Treasury chief was credited with overseeing Britain's longest stretch of postwar prosperity, replaced Tony Blair last year with a promise to revive the fortunes of a Labour Party battered by the unpopular Iraq war.

But his bouts of indecision and dour demeanor have combined with a sagging economy to drag his party's approval ratings to 20-year lows.

Some Labour supporters have become disenchanted.

"I'm not sure what the point of voting is this time around — I'm not hugely impressed with Gordon Brown," said Paul Wilson, a 48-year-old police officer.

With a low turnout expected, Brown isn't likely to suffer electoral disaster but his party could still lose more than 100 seats — many in northern England, a Labour stronghold.

"It's fifty-fifty at the moment that Brown's Labour party could be pushed into third place," behind the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, said polling analyst Mike Smithson.

Much of Thursday's spotlight will be on the vote for London's mayor — mostly because of its three unusual candidates.

Labour's mayoral incumbent Ken Livingstone — a leftist known for known for hobnobbing with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez — is seeking to fend off the challenge of Conservative Boris Johnson — a privileged, gaffe-prone ex-journalist with a mop of blonde hair.

The third candidate, Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick, is an openly gay former police officer.

A win for Johnson would be a coup for the Conservatives who have been trying to take back control in London for 10 years.

Some see echoes of Margaret Thatcher's rise in these elections, which come amid mounting problems that include a troubled economy and strikes by teachers and oil refinery workers.

Restive workers, job losses and nationalized industries were hallmarks of Britain in the late 1970s — when Thatcher booted Labour out of office for a generation.

Even the economic record on which Brown trades has been called into question.

Dissent in Labour's blue-collar base forced him to promise new support for low wage earners hurt by his decision to scrap the lowest tax bracket of 10 percent.

"Labour is forgetting who they are," said Mary Kieran, 70, a retired nurse.

Many blame Brown for failing to anticipate the global credit crunch, which led to an embarrassing nationalization of Britain's failed mortgage lender Northern Rock.

Brown's slump is a remarkable turnaround from October when — riding high on his successful handling of failed terror attacks in London and Scotland — he considered calling a snap national election.

After much dithering, Brown ruled it out. That indecision has proven costly — reinforcing claims that he won't trust his instincts and is too ready to duck out of tough fights.

"I think really we just need to give someone else a try now," said Lisa O'Connor, a 37-year-old traffic warden in London, who said she would vote Conservative.

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Associated Press Writer Meera Selva contributed to this story.

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