UK's Brown safe for now -- focus on economy, Cameron

By Jodie Ginsberg - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Gordon Brown is under no immediate pressure from his party to step aside after a drubbing in local elections, although Labour risks being ousted from government if the economy does not pick up.

Analysts also said the Conservative success in the elections would put the opposition party and their leader David Cameron under renewed pressure to prove they can lead the country after more than a decade in the wilderness.

So far, senior Labour lawmakers have rallied behind Prime Minister Brown, saying the former finance minister is the man to lead Britain through an economic downturn -- but voters are unconvinced.

With two years to go before national elections, Labour recorded its worst results in 40 years in local polls on Thursday, with estimates putting the party on 24 percent of the vote -- in third place behind the Conservatives on 44 percent and Liberal Democrats on 25.

Tony Lloyd, chair of the parliamentary Labour party, insisted there were no moves to oust Brown, who has been in the job for less than a year after taking over from Tony Blair.

"I don't think there's appetite for saying we get the knives out," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Scots in leadership positions can surprise you," he said, pointing to the success of Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United football club, who is a Scot like Brown.

Still smarting from a bitter leadership battle between Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair, the Labour Party recognizes that more in-fighting now would be fatal -- and there is no obvious candidate to fill Brown's shoes.