Seven out of 10 as Brown mixes personal and political

Gordon Brown stepped up to the biggest test of his political career with his speech to the Labour party conference this afternoon - and scored a solid seven out of ten. At least that's what his audience thought.

Predictably Ministers and MPs were publicly delighted with his performance and insisted it would put an end to the bickering and in-fighting that has brought his administration to its knees.

They insisted they like the mixture of personal - he told the story of losing the sight in one eye after a rugby accident for the umpteenth time - and the political, with activist-friendly announcements on climate change, free prescriptions for cancer patients and internet access for the poorest families.

The Prime Minister tried to make a virtue of his dour image, insisting: "If people say I am too serious, quite honestly there's a lot to be serious about." He also played on his experience as a virtue during the credit crunch, saying this is "no time for a novice". It was to be a reference to David Cameron, but was also widely seen as a swipe at David Miliband (though the Foreign Secretary was the first to shake his hand after the hour-long speech).

The sense outside the Manchester conference centre was that he had done enough to see off the immediate threat to his position from within the party. But the rank-and-file know that the crucial question is whether the public bought into this latest rebranding of Gordon Brown. As one Minister said: "He has earned himself some breathing space."

But the British public has tended to be immune to Brown's charms. If the opinion polls do not start to show movement in Labour's direction over the next month, the pressure will be on Brown yet again.

THE MOLE: BROWN'S SPEECH

FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 23, 2008