LONDON, ENGLAND -- Dressed in a business suit with short, greying dark hair, the portly Nick Brown is an unlikely looking rebel, but the former Labour cabinet minister is leading a revolt in his own party over increased university tuition fees. It's a bruising battle that could damage British Prime Minister Tony Blair's political fortunes as he fights to keep his flagship social policy afloat.

Blair has faced uprisings among his MPs before over war in Iraq and private funding for hospitals, but this time he appears to face a greater possibility of losing a vote in the House of Commons.

The Higher Education Bill on university funding, which is up for a vote in the Commons Jan. 27, has angered 159 Labour MPs who have signed a petition against it.

And Blair's problems in getting the bill through the House are compounded because he can't count on getting support for his proposals from the Liberal-Democrats or the Conservatives, who have helped him win close votes before.

Despite the prospect of delivering a blow to Blair's leadership, the normally loyal Brown is in a defiant mood.

"We're not for moving, we're not for giving in," he told the Foreign Press Association in London this week at a debate on the fees.

At the heart of the dispute is a proposal that would see tuition fees for undergraduate students triple from 1,125 pounds ($2,640 Cdn) to a maximum of 3,000 pounds ($7,040 Cdn) at universities in England and Wales starting in 2006.

It would be up to individual universities to determine how much they charge, although surveys have shown most would charge the full rate.

Opponents of the plan argue the fees will unfairly hit the poorest students and burden graduates with crippling debts.

Attempts to soften the impact of the fees on poor students did win over some Labour MPs this week, while others were persuaded to support the policy because they suspect a plot to get rid of Blair.

Clare Short, who quit cabinet over the Iraq war, predicted that if Blair loses the vote, he could resign, something Blair has refused to speculate about.

She also believes the backroom arm-twisting that has worked among Labour MPs in tight votes before could fail this time because backbenchers can see a future for the party without Blair at the helm.

"People aren't willing to be cajoled, and the threat to Tony Blair's standing, the possibility he might have to go and be replaced, is no longer a frightening prospect," Short added.

By mid-week, there were signs of cracks in the rebellion, but Brown thinks it is conceivable that at least 100 Labour MPs will vote against the fees. If all opposition MPs show up and vote against the bill, just 81 Labour rebels are needed to defeat the measure.

With less than two weeks to go before the bill goes to the Commons, Blair has gone on the offensive with a major speech on its merits.

Cabinet ministers, meanwhile, have been leaning on renegade backbenchers to switch sides.

By Thursday, the prime minister sounded confident about his chances of winning.

"I believe we will win the vote, there's a lot still to do, but I believe we will win," he told a news conference.

For Brown, a former government whip who was responsible for keeping MPs in line before big votes, the idea of charging more for a university education is a betrayal of basic Labour principles.

"It is actually offensive to me that a Labour government should want to underpin the English class system and all the privilege and all the things that go with it," said Brown.

Blair has taken the debate over Labour values head on, saying he is trying to boost the number of people who go to university while improving the funding the schools need to turn out skilled graduates who can help Britain compete economically.

The bill has wide support among universities, but student groups have held noisy demonstrations across the country.

Sir Richard Sykes, rector of Imperial College in London, estimates the school loses about 16 million pounds ($38 million Cdn) a year.

"I have to tell you, it's not like having one arm tied behind your back, but one arm and one leg tied behind your back as well trying to run a top university in this country," he said in a debate on the bill.