Gingrich aides quit campaign team

A number of senior aides have resigned from the presidential campaign team of Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The news will hit Mr Gingrich’s hopes of being the Republican nominee to challenge Barack Obama in 2012.

His campaign got off to a halting start when he criticised a plan popular among Republicans to slash and privatise a healthcare programme for the elderly.

Staff were also reportedly concerned after he took a recent holiday cruise.

Mr Gingrich’s campaign manager Rob Johnson and his entire senior staff, including strategists in early primary election states, quit on Thursday.

“When the campaign and the candidate disagree on the path, they’ve got to part ways,” said Rick Tyler a longtime Gingrich spokesman, was quoted by the Washington Post newspaper as saying.

With the Republican primary campaign beginning to take shape, the lack of a core team could seriously hinder Mr Gingrich’s chances at winning the Republican nomination, analysts say.

Mr Gingrich remained widely respected in the party for leading congressional Republicans out of 40 years in opposition in 1994, although he lost the speaker’s gavel in 1998 after the party took significant losses.

After launching his White House bid in May, he quickly drew heavy criticism from virtually the entire national Republican establishment for criticising a Republican congressman’s proposal to overhaul the popular Medicare healthcare programme.