British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to "never give up" after his slim re-election hopes took a fresh blow when two top newspapers turned against him yesterday, days before crucial May 6 polls.
As party leaders entered the last days of campaigning for the knife-edge general election, long-time Labour supporters The Times and The Guardian both announced they were switching away from Brown's party this time around.
The Times will support the Conservatives for the first time in 18 years because leader David Cameron 'has shown the fortitude, judgement and character to lead this country back to a healthier, stronger future,' it said.
And The Guardian, seen as the broadsheet of record for the centre-left, said it backed Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats, adding in an editorial that it was 'hard to feel enthusiasm' at a possible five more years of Brown.
The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily newspaper, is already supporting the centre-right Conservatives, as is influential current affairs magazine the Economist.
"I'm fighting not just for my life but I'm fighting for what I believe is important for the future of the country," Brown said after the news emerged on the final weekend of campaigning. "I never give up and I will never give up." Along with falling opinion polls, the loss of support is the latest blow to the prime minister, who only took over from Tony Blair in 2007 and has never led Labour to victory in a national election to parliament.
Last Wednesday, Brown was caught off-guard calling an elderly widow a "bigoted woman" after meeting her on the campaign trail, and the next day he struggled to make an impact in the final televised leaders' debate.
"Sometimes you say things you greatly regret. And I have paid a very high price for it," Brown told the Daily Telegraph yesterday, referring to the incident dubbed 'bigotgate' by the media.
Highlighting its influence on the race, Brown was later heckled at a campaign event by a man who shouted, "What about that bigoted woman?" before being dragged out of the room by staff.
Speculation is rife about who could replace Brown as Labour leader if his centre-left party loses the election, with attention focused on Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Labour, in power for 13 years, began this campaign as the underdog against the Tories. But a surge in Liberal Democrat support after Clegg's star turn in televised leaders' debates unexpectedly pushed the party into third place.