Today, as Gordon Brown awakes in 10 Downing Street, he must be thinking of why he took on the job of British Prime Minister just on two years ago. Brown's head must be spinning and the thought must be racing around in his mind that 'why was I so keen to do it in the first place?'

Now Brown must be wishing that he had never challenged Blair and instead left him as PM to take the rap for the worst local election and European election results ever recorded for UK Labour. The UK leader must now be contemplating his own future as last week voters at both the local and European elections punished Labour for its handling of both the expenses scandal and the economy.

The results, released earlier today (Monday) New Zealand time saw Labour lose seats literally to parties on the right, far right, green left and centre of British politics. One of the most alarming results was recorded in the European polls where British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffith won the party's first ever European Parliament seat in North-East England and all indicators are that he will be joined by another neo-fascist colleague in Strasbourg (home of the European Parliament). The party espouses the need to repatriate all foreign immigrants back to their country of origin and other racist, xenophobic and blatantly homophobic and disableist policies that would turn Britain into a fascist state. Very alarmingly, many of the BNP's core vote at this election came from working class communities in the North East of England who have been let down by two decades of neglect from both Conservative and Labour governments and it has been this sense of economic and social neglect that the far right has exploited for its own purposes amongst white, working class and lower middle class voters. What is of some comfort is that the party polled about 6% of the total votes cast and it is a still a small player in the British political context but a menacing and growing one.

The UK Independence Party, a party more slightly to the left of the BNP, which advocates a UK withdrawal from the European Union (EU) and immigration caps on European citizens attempting to enter that country looks like it will come second overall in the British count for the European Parliament having claimed around 17% of the vote. Britons have long been sceptical of the benefits of EU membership and this has fed through to divisions on the issue that have festered especially within the Conservative Party and to a lesser extent the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens have also done reasonably well in holding their share of the vote from the last European elections in 2004 and did very well in the local government vote, with the Lib Dems almost eclipsing Labour into third place in the local election tally. The Liberal Democrats (a fusion of the Liberal and Social Democratic parties) have been slightly to the left of Labour during its time in office but now with Labour beginning to follow a more Keynesian economic prescription and raising taxes on higher income earners to boot, the party (in tandem with electoral sentiment) has begun moving to the centre-right.

And the European election results in Britain (as they have been elsewhere in Europe) have been nothing but good news for the centre right. In Britain, this will be seen as another good omen for David Cameron and his Conservative Party. Cameron is the youthful, boyish and centrist leader of the Tory Party who assumed the leadership in 2006, just five years after first entering the House of Commons. In this respect, he has been compared to our own John Key who had his own fast rise within conservative politics in this country and in fact the two men are good friends. The Tories have so far claimed 30% of the vote in the European elections (and they did even better in the local elections). Therefore, once the UKIP vote (comprised mainly of Euro-sceptic Tories who usually vote Conservative in national elections) is factored in, the party looks set to inflict a heavy defeat on Labour at the general election due before next year.

Even so, the general election could be moved forward into this year, especially if Gordon Brown is toppled as many British political commentators are now speculating. With the ongoing parliamentary expenses scandal claiming more Labour than Conservative victims, an effectively stalled economy and a collapsing government (with last week witnessing the resignation of several senior ministers over the expenses fiasco), Brown is now looking to be an indecisive and weak PM. During his days as Chancellor the Exchequer (Finance Minister) in the Blair Labour Government, Brown was viewed as a dour, fiscally prurient Scot. After assuming the premiership in 2007, this perception began to change, albeit temporarily, as he successfully handled a series of crises centred around terrorism scares and flooding soon after taking over. As time has gone on and as the Labour Government begins to look tired and aged (it has been in office since 1997), things have begun to go wrong, beginning with Brown's blunder in not calling an early election in November 2007 that could have seen Labour returned for a fourth term. With the economic crisis intervening last year and now the expenses imbroligo, his government looks, as did New Zealand's Labour Government was last year, doomed to go down in a landslide defeat at the polls.

As was the case during our fourth Labour Government in 1990, panicking British Labour MPs are now looking to dump Brown in favour of a leader who can at least hold the line and avoid absolute catastrophe at the next election. Effectively, they want to dump their version of Geoffrey Palmer for someone who has the 'common touch' and will have a greater chance of keeping working class Labour voting seats from falling to the Tories. While by no means a Mike Moore figure, Alan Johnson, Britain's new Home Secretary (in charge of police and immigration) has working class roots and was once a postman and union leader. Johnson is seen as the next in line to succeed Brown and with calls for the resignation of the current office holder mounting, he could be invited to Buckingham Palace within a month or so, but not before the required Labour Party leadership election being held amongst all registered party members.

Scenario wise, therefore, it looks increasingly likely that Johnson will be the Mike Moore type, sacrificial lamb figure for UK Labour. The reality is that with opposition, media and public pressure being insurmountable, Johnson (or another successor) immediately upon assuming office will announce an election with the date likely to be towards year's end giving Labour some breathing space to prepare itself for the inevitable.

While this scenario is gloomy for UK Labour, it now appears to be in a no win situation as Brown or any other alternative leader cannot stop the rot now, save a miracle.