Rebuff for Blair as shadow team faces snap poll

A snap election for Tony Blair's Shadow Cabinet in two weeks' time seems almost certain as significant opposition to the proposal failed to materialise in Westminster yesterday.

The move would be a compromise in the stand-off between the Labour leader and his rebellious MPs, but still marks a serious rebuff for Mr Blair. He privately wanted to cancel the annual November "beauty contest", in which all Labour MPs have a vote, because it would be a distraction, tying up his shadow ministerial team in internal canvassing.

But backbenchers - many keen to vote against health spokeswoman Harriet Harman as a punishment for sending her son to a selective school - insisted on exercising one of their few remaining powers. Last week, in a rare flexing of backbench muscle, more than 100 MPs pledged to attend the weekly meeting of Labour MPs next Wednesday and block any move to cancel the elections.

The idea of an early election was then floated earlier this week by frontbenchers close to Mr Blair, who claimed there was a "strong push from all quarters of the party". Mr Blair seems to have decided that, if there is to be a contest, it would be better to get it out of the way.

The idea was also backed by left-wingers, for whom it has the advantage of guaranteeing that they have a say.

When an early election was proposed at a Labour MPs' meeting two months ago by Paul Flynn, the disaffected MP for Newport West, it was defeated 64-25 by MPs loyal to Mr Blair, who at that time still hoped to drop the elections altogether. If plans for an early poll were agreed on Wednesday, the elections could be held a week later on 24 July, the last full day of this parliamentary session.

Mr Blair would then be faced with the embarrassment of having to keep Ms Harman in her post if she were voted off the Shadow Cabinet, and of Conservative jibes about the "real face of Labour" showing in high votes for traditionalist shadow ministers. Some MPs also regard Jack Straw, Labour's spokesman for home affairs, as vulnerable over his allegedly "authoritarian" policies, including curfews for children.

Meanwhile, further preparations for a Labour government are unveiled by Tom Sawyer, the party general secretary in an interview today. He proposes widening the membership of the National Executive Committee (NEC), which under past Labour governments was the focus of internal dissent.

"The NEC has a responsibility to support and sustain a Labour government," he tells this week's New Statesman."There can be disagreements, but overall it's important to be supportive ... if we are not, we won't win a second term." And he rejects the NEC's historic role in making policy: "It is clear that the lead responsibility for the policy and the message will come from the elected leaders."

Mr Blair has not lost a single vote on the NEC in his two years as leader, but he is known to want to avoid it becoming an alternative power centre if Labour wins the election.