LONDON  Months before a national election, Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared Thursday to have survived an attempt to unseat him by two senior figures in the governing Labour Party who issued an unusual appeal for a secret ballot on his leadership.

But the episode revealed a surprisingly tepid level of support for Mr. Brown among ministers who rallied belatedly to his side after the dissidents  the former cabinet ministers Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon  said in a letter to Labour lawmakers on Wednesday that their party was “deeply divided” over his tenure.

Late Wednesday, Mr. Hoon acknowledged on BBC television that the attempt to force a secret ballot  the third challenge to Mr. Brown’s position since he took power more than two years ago  had failed. He described the maneuver as “an opportunity that Labour M.P.s by and large have not taken.”

British newspapers Thursday dwelled on the apparent reluctance of some cabinet ministers to support Mr. Brown, who faces a catalog of woes ranging from recession at home to criticism of his handling of the war in Afghanistan. The BBC said up to six cabinet ministers may have harbored unspoken sympathies for the attempt to topple him.