Brown to take over as new UK PM

New Delhi: UK’s new Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave his first speech on Sunday at a party conference in Manchester. He will take over Tony Blair on June 27.

In his speech he outlined the issues he would focus on once he took over. Brown said that he would take long-term measures to ensure stability of the economy. Health, education and poverty would also be top on the agenda.

Brown said that there would be no rapid troop withdrawal from Iraq, but that a multi-lateral plan would be worked out.

Brown was officially endorsed as the new leader of Britain's Labour Party on Sunday, three days before he succeeds Blair.

In a short statement to introduce Brown as his successor, Blair said, "from today, the leader of our party, very soon to be the leader of our country."

Brown is "a man with strong soundness convictions, true to his principles, a man with every quality to mark him out as a great Prime Minister of our country," Blair told his fellow colleagues for the last time as their leader.

Brown will give his "best in the service of the country," Blair said, "I know his best is as good as it gets."

The 56-year-old Scot, unchallenged to be the leader, won overwhelming support and warm applause from his ruling party members at a special conference here on Sunday afternoon.

"It is with humility, pride and a great sense of duty that I accept the privilege and the great responsibility of leading our party and changing our country," Brown said when accepting the post.

After ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer in charge of treasury, Brown was ending the long waiting to take over the keys to Number 10 Downing Street as Blair leaves office on Wednesday.

Blair declared in May that he would step down as the party leader and quit his job as Prime Minister on June 27.

The leadership change seemed to have a boost effect for the Labor Party, which recently suffered a setback in local elections.

Latest poll for the Observer newspaper on Sunday shows that Labour leads by three percentage points over the Conservative Party for the first time since last October.

A total of 40 per cent of some 1,000 people polled said Brown would make the most capable leader, while 22 percent chose David Cameron, the Tory leader and five percent, the Liberal Democratic leader.

Before Brown's no-surprise appointment, six candidates fought a fierce competition for the ruling party's deputy chief.

Party aides hope that Brown's serious style of functioning would bring back disillusioned voters.

(With agency inputs)