UK:BRITISH PRIME minister Gordon Brown has vowed to "adapt and rethink New Labour policy" to meet the changing nature of the global and domestic challenges facing the United Kingdom, writes Frank Millar
When he succeeded Tony Blair to the Labour leadership almost 15 months ago, Mr Brown presented himself as the "change" candidate and leader of a "new" government. Yesterday, the prime minister spoke of the need "to forge a new kind of government" to meet long- and short-term pressures.
In an article for The Monitor, Mr Brown acknowledged that social mobility in Britain had not improved as much as he would have wished, admitting that his government "must do more".
Ahead of his and Labour's critical annual conference in Manchester, Mr Brown again suggested he could provide the leadership required by both country and party.
"What I ask of our country, and our party, cannot be done without leadership . . . at the conference at Manchester and in the weeks that follow, I will set out how I - and our party, and our government, and our country - must rise to conquer those challenges and ensure fairness for all."
Amid suggestions that Mr Brown might use his conference address to take responsibility for things that have gone badly wrong for his party in the past year, the Conservatives launched a 14-day countdown to the speech with the promise of a daily reminder "of a different mistake for which he should apologise".
Yesterday's suggestion was for an apology for the abolition of the 10p starting rate of tax and for "raising the tax burden" on some of Britain's poorest families.
In a wry editorial, meanwhile, the Daily Telegraphnoted Monday's away-day cabinet meeting in Birmingham and the government's apparent commitment to spend more time talking to people in their localities.
"How nice," the paper responded, while publishing a list of suggested venues for future cabinet outings: "On the hard shoulder on the M25, reviewing the integrated transport policy. In the 'six items or fewer' [queue] at Sainsbury's, for a streamlined discussion of food-price inflation. Outdoors on the Langworthy estate, Salford, after dark, to talk about unnecessary fear of crime. On a tightrope over the lion enclosure at London Zoo, discussing the prime minister's aversion to 'short-term gimmicks'."