Brown talks tough

2008-09-23 19:50

Manchester - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown used a highly personal speech on Tuesday to argue he was a serious leader for serious times in a crunch bid to silence rebels at his Labour Party's conference.

Brown said "the way to deal with tough times is to face them down" on the last full day of the conference in Manchester, northwest England, dominated by talk of a leadership challenge and global economic turbulence.

"I'm not going to try to be something I'm not," the prime minister said in a 53-minute-long speech which stressed his experience and received a warm, five-minute standing ovation.

"If people say I'm too serious, quite honestly there's a lot to be serious about - I'm serious about doing a serious job for the people of this country."

'No time for a novice'

He also repeatedly took aim at David Cameron, the youthful leader of the main opposition Conservatives who threaten to oust the centre-left Labour in the next general election which must be held by mid-2010.

"This is no time for a novice," Brown said, pledging to provide a "rock of stability and fairness" for the nation.

Brown is battling to hold on to the job he took over from Tony Blair just 15 months ago after four lawmakers left their junior government jobs this month and 12 called for a leadership contest against him.

A ComRes/Independent on Sunday poll this week put Labour 12% behind the Conservatives in one of the party's better recent showings.

- AFP