UK's Brown Would Beat Young Pretender

British Finance Minister Gordon Brown said he would defeat Minister David Miliband in a contest for the ruling Labour Party's leadership.

British Finance Minister Gordon Brown would defeat his younger colleague Environment Minister David Miliband in a contest for the ruling Labour Party's leadership, a fellow minister said on Monday.

Education Secretary Alan Johnson said Miliband -- who is being urged by some in Labour to challenge Brown in the race to succeed Tony Blair -- would make an excellent choice in the future but not now.

"I think David's time will come but I don't think it will be in the next couple of months," said Johnson, a candidate for Labour's deputy leadership.

"This is not his time because there's a more talented, more experienced politician in Gordon Brown and I think David is absolutely clear about that himself," he told reporters.

Blair is expected to announce his resignation shortly after May 3 elections for English councils, the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament, having completed a decade in office.

That will trigger a seven or eight week contest to find a successor to a leader who has proved the party's best electoral asset but whose popularity has plummeted, in part because of his decision to join the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Brown, 56, has waited in the wings for years to succeed Blair and is the clear frontrunner.

But some in Labour are worried that Brown does not have the charisma or vitality to beat opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron, 40, in the next election, expected in 2009 and are anxious about recent opinion polls.

In one poll earlier this month, more than half of those asked thought Brown was unfit to lead the country. Miliband, 41, has yet to completely rule out a possible challenge but has said Brown will make an excellent Labour leader and prime minister. Johnson, 56, described Miliband as an "incredible political asset" to Labour and a bright and talented politician but said he would not back him if he decided to run.

"I don't think David would win," he said.

Johnson, a former postman who left school without any qualifications, also said he doubted any other candidate would manage to get the 44 nominations of other Labour lawmakers needed to get on the leadership ballot.

So far, two left-wing Labour parliamentarians are the only formal candidates in the race but Brown is expected to announce his candidacy as soon as Blair says he is leaving.

Brown will be expected to attend hustings across the country even if he is the only candidate for the leadership.

The deputy leadership contest will run simultaneously. Six candidates have already said they will stand.