Cameron: 'I'm ready for Brown's snap spring election'

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• 'Bring it on,' says Cameron

David Cameron called Gordon Brown's bluff today by demanding a snap general election.

The Tory leader responded to headlines predicting a poll within the year by declaring: "Bring it on."

He spoke out after Labour sources said Mr Brown aims to destroy his rival with the threat of an early election. The Chancellor believes Mr Cameron, wounded badly in the grammar school furore, is vulnerable to a coup from the party's Right wing.

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Gordon Brown holds his wife Sarah's hand high in a victory gesture as he takes the stage as the new leader of the Labour party

And now, over to you: Ex-leader of the Labour Party Tony Blair's face is set as he shakes hands with the new Labour leader Gordon Brown, who is smiling widely, in Manchester

But Mr Cameron turned the tables with a defiant challenge to Mr Brown to carry out his threat.

"If Gordon Brown is serious about wanting to listen to the people of this country then he should call a snape election right now," Mr Cameron said.

"Gordon Brown has no mandate to be prime minister and he cannot be the change the country needs. People want real change and the next general election can't come soon enough."

Mr Brown's aides were doing little to dampen election fever today, though they said no final decisions had been taken.

One senior minister close to Mr Brown, however, said: "It will be in two years' time - that's how long Gordon believes it takes to plan and mount a campaign."

Three days before he takes over as Prime Minister, Mr Brown tried to seize on signs of the Tory wobble in the polls to announce that he has already appointed a campaign chief.

And he displayed an early flash of ruthlessness by refusing to give the coveted Deputy Prime Minister job to Harriet Harman, who stunned Westminster by winning a tightly-fought contest for the party deputy leadership.

But David Cameron promised a "relentlessly positive agenda" to take on Mr Brown and said he was "looking forward to the challenge" on an early election.

"I've got a very important job to do, which is to give the British people an exciting and inspiring alternative to a government that I believe has failed.

"And that's what I am going to focus on: a relentlessly-positive agenda. The party has changed - it is in the middle ground; it is challenging for power; it is much more relevant to people's concerns today in terms of really fighting the fight on health and education and crime."

After more than a decade of campaigning to succeed Tony Blair, Mr Brown finally had the satisfaction of being introduced as the new leader by the outgoing Prime Minister at a special party 'coronation' conference in Manchester yesterday.

"I am ready to serve," Mr Brown told 2,000 Labour delegates, promising to base his leadership on the values of "duty, honesty, hard work, family and respect for others".

Faced with the challenge of winning a fourth general election, he promised to give the party back its "soul" after years marked by sleaze and policy failures.

The conference allowed the party to rubber-stamp Mr Brown's unopposed election as its leader, and announce the winner in the race for deputy.

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All change for Labour: The Labour Party's new leader Gordon Brown and Deputy Leader Harriet Harman. Brown will become Prime Minister, but Harman may be rebuffed as Deputy Prime Minister

There was consternation as Miss Harman pipped the favourite Alan Johnson by 50.43 per cent to 49.56 per cent on a low turn-out to succeed John Prescott, leaving Mr Brown to make an instant decision on her future role.

Mr Brown said that in future the deputy leader would be Labour chairman with a seat in Cabinet, putting the choice of chairman in the hands of the party.

With a sweeping reshuffle planned for later this week, he pre-empted speculation by announcing that Miss Harman will sit in Cabinet as party chairman.

He left the way open to give the deputy premier role to someone he trusts more - possibly Jack Straw, who has emerged as the favourite to take over the new Ministry of Justice as Lord Chancellor.

But sources close to Mr Brown said he might choose not to appoint a deputy premier amid claims that Mr Prescott's antics in office have discredited the role. With a poll putting Labour three points ahead of the Tories - its first lead in eight months - signs of an expected "Brown bounce" galvanised Labour and Mr Brown.

In a significant move that will anger union barons, he also announced that the policy approval process at Labour conference will be run on "one member one vote" - effectively scrapping one of the last bastions of the trade union block vote.

Ipsos Mori in the Observer put Labour on 39 per cent, up four points, while the Tories dropped one point to 36 and the Liberal Democrats fell three to 15.

Douglas Alexander, the Transport Secretary and key Brown ally, who was confirmed as Labour's general election coordinator, said: "If I was the Conservatives I'd be very worried and not just because they are falling in the polls."

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Tony Blair steps back in to his supporting role as Gordon Brown takes over

The reshuffle is expected to see a clear-out of portfolios, with Margaret Beckett and Patricia Hewitt as likely losers. Mr Brown will use it to promote young talent, but will also reflect the outcome of the deputy leadership vote.

Alan Johnson is tipped for promotion, while Hazel Blears and Jon Cruddas are likely to be rewarded. But Hilary Benn, recently a favourite for Foreign Secretary, might pay the price for what some saw an amateurish campaign.

Mr Brown's acceptance speech focused heavily on domestic areas which are likely to be the battlegrounds for the next election.

He said the NHS, education, housing, child poverty and the constitution would be the central priorities of his first months in office.

By contrast, he made only fleeting references to Iraq and Europe, or to the growing pressure he faces to deliver a referendum on the new EU treaty agreed on Saturday by Mr Blair.

The new leader will now retreat from the public eye ahead of Wednesday's handover, leaving the Prime Minister, in one of his last appearancesin the Commons, to face down Tory calls for a vote on the deal he signed in Brussels.

Mr Brown has endorsed Mr Blair's claim that there does not need to be a referendum. And he has vowed to stand firm against a growing clamour which was given extra energy yesterday by Irish premier Bertie Ahern's admission that the new treaty contains 90 per cent of the failed EU constitution and will have to be put to a referendum in Ireland.

The new Labour leader offered himself as a chance for the party to change itself and change Britain after ten years of a Blair government which ends on Wednesday battered by the disaster of Iraq and claims that it failed to deliver on its early promise.

"I will heed and lead the call of change," he said. "And so I say honestly - I am a conviction politician."

A choreographed handover on Wednesday will see Mr Blair make his last appearance at PMQs before heading for Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to the Queen. He will then retire to Chequers at Mr Brown's invitation while work is completed on his house in Connaught Square.

Mr Brown will follow him to the Palace an hour later and will be asked to form a government. He will then head straight for Downing Street.

It is understood that he and wife Sarah will continue to make use of their flat over No 10 and have not yet decided to take over the Blair family apartment above No 11.

 

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