Medway MP Bob Marshall-Andrews has said it is inevitable Labour will lose the next general election.

The Labour MP, who is stepping down from office, made his opinions known about the sorry state of the Labour Party during an interview with the Financial Times.

Speaking to the national business newspaper Mr Marshall-Andrews said: "General election prospects are looking dire.

“There should be a general election this year, maybe even this summer.

"It is inevitable that we will be defeated, we need to get on with the painful and inevitable process of readjustment and reinforcement, we can’t do that in government."

Mr Marshall-Andrews added that PM Gordon Brown has all but lost support among party members.

He added: "He’s gone, he’s gone. I don’t think there is any doubt about that at all.

"That is to say he’s a spent political force, he won’t be gone as prime minister, he will remain, but his authority has gone.”

"Governments always come to an end, the one thing you could say about John Major was that at last he came to an end with his dignity intact and a great deal of affection in the country when he went down.

"You can’t say the same, I’m afraid, of Gordon"