BROWN SURVIVAL IN BALANCE; Harman backs PM despite poll results.

LABOUR deputy leader Harriet Harman today rejected calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step down in the wake of a devastating rout for the party in the European elections.

Ms Harman said she was ''very disappointed indeed'' by Labour's results but she insisted Mr Brown was the right person to lead the country through the economic downturn and clean up the MPs' expenses system.

''I do actually think that Gordon Brown and the Government have got the best strategy for helping the economy through these difficult times, and I know people are blazing angry with us at the moment,'' she said on television.

''But they want us to do better, they want us to sort out the economy and they want us to sort out what they regard as the aberration of expenses.'' Her remarks came as Mr Brown's political survival hung in the balance as the Labour Party was beaten into third place by the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in the popular vote, while the far-right British National Party achieved a major breakthrough by gaining its first

Euro seats, including in the North West where the party's leader, Nick Griffin, was elected.

The scale of the defeat could prove a catalyst for rebel Labour backbenchers manoeuvring to oust the Premier to launch a direct leadership challenge.

With almost all the results from across the UK in, Labour had managed just 15.4% of the popular vote to Ukip's 17.5%. The Tories had 28.3% while the Liberal Democrats were in fourth place with 14%.

The results will set the scene for a tense meeting this evening of the Parliamentary Labour Party..

CAPTION(S):

FOOT IN THE DOOR: BNP leader Nick Griffin, above BEST STRATEGY: Harriet Harman left, defended PM Gordon Brown, right