Brown pledges change as British Prime Minister

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah arrive at 10 Downing Street in London yesterday. Brown replaced Tony Blair as Britain's Prime Minister and promised changes after a decade of Labour Party rule marred by a lack of trust in the government since the Iraq war. – Reuters

Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as Britain's Prime Minister yesterday after years of waiting, and promised sweeping changes in style and policy to restore trust in a government damaged by the Iraq war.

Queen Elizabeth asked the long-serving Finance Minister to form a government after Blair resigned at Buckingham Palace on a day of ceremony and emotion that ended an era in British politics.

Blair, Prime Minister for a decade, signed off by answering questions in Parliament for the last time, giving an emotional performance that brought one minister to tears and the assembly to its feet.

International powers later named Blair as their Middle East peace envoy, handing him a daunting new challenge.

Less than two hours after Blair left the Prime Minister's 10 Downing Street residence for Buckingham Palace, Brown stood posing for photographs at the same black front door, every move captured by a throng of cameramen and photographers.

Onlookers and anti-Iraq war protesters gathered outside Downing Street while a crowd formed outside the palace.

Blair, whose rule began with high promises but ended with his popularity badly dented by the 2003 Iraq war, stepped aside to give the Labour Party a better chance of winning a fourth consecutive term in the next election, due by 2010.

He also resigned his parliamentary seat yesterday.

New government with new priorities

"This will be a new government with new priorities," Brown, 56, told reporters in a statement as he arrived at 10 Downing Street, his wife Sarah at his side.

"I've heard the need for change ... and this need for change cannot be met by the old politics," he said, pledging to build a government that "uses allthe talents".

"The new Prime Minister will announce his Cabinet today," his spokesman said.

"Downing Street staff applauded Brown and he immediately got down to business, calling United States President George W. Bush for a 10-minute 'cordial and constructive' conversation," Brown's spokesman said.

Brown, whose father was a church minister in Scotland, is widely seen as less charismatic than Blair.

(Reuter)