All of these events led to mounting speculation about Brown's future as Prime Minister and a possible leadership challenge. However, Brown faced down his critics and was applauded at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on 8 June 2009. Brown continued to be unpopular; in September, Britain's biggest selling newspaper "The Sun" announced that after 12 years of supporting Labour, it would withdraw its support in favour of the Conservatives. A challenge to Brown's leadership was made in January 2010 when Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon wrote to Labour MPs calling for a secret ballot on the issue. Their letter said that the party was "deeply divided" and the issue should be sorted out "once and for all". However, the plot failed to gather any momentum after several senior cabinet ministers spoke out in support of Brown.