Brown's fightback gets personal

"Let me tell you this is no time for a novice," he declared - a jibe thrown at Tory George Osborne and Cabinet rival David Miliband.

Spelling out his personal credo with unusual passion, the Prime Minister used the words "fairness" and "fair" 40 times in the hour-long address.

Fighting back after weeks of open plotting against his leadership, Mr Brown said he had learned from his errors but was always true to his beliefs.

"I know what I believe. I know who I am. I know what I want to do in this job," he said. "And I know that the way to deal with tough times is to face them down. Stay true to your beliefs."

His dour image was part of his strength, he suggested. "If people say I'm too serious, quite honestly there's a lot to be serious about."

Delegates saw a rare glimpse of the Prime Minister's tender side when he was introduced to the stage by wife Sarah, who spoke of her pride in his leadership and achievements.

Mr Brown kissed her, looking pleased and embarrassed before launching into what was billed widely as a make-or-break speech.

It was festooned with policy announcements, including an eye-catching pledge to abolish NHS prescriptions for all cancer patients, eventually expanding that to free drugs for all five million patients with long-term illnesses.

With promises of extra care schemes for the elderly and free nursery places for two-year-olds, he told the Manchester conference: "This is the future we are fighting for."

Mr Brown appeared to have found the warm tone and passion that had been missing from many of his speeches. Sounding upbeat he denied that there was an "inevitable political cycle" that doomed Labour to lose the next election. But he admitted he had made huge errors, especially the abolition of the 10p tax band that had "really hurt" him.

"Where I have made mistakes I will put my hand up and put them right," he promised. There was no modesty in the music played as he left the stage to a long standing ovation - Jackie Wilson's Higher and Higher.

Mr Brown name-checked every member of the Cabinet - but issued a clear warning to plotters that they were letting the party down.

"The British people would not forgive us if at this time we looked inwards to the affairs of just our party when our duty is to the interests of our country," he said.

Dismissing his own unpopularity with a joke, he said he never came into politics to be liked. And echoing US vice-presidential runner Sarah Palin, he said: "I didn't come to London to join the establishment - but because I wanted and want to change it."

In what will be seen as a sharp attack on Tory leader David Cameron for using his children in media appearances, Mr Brown said: "Some people have been asking why I haven't served my children up for spreads in the papers."

"And my answer is simple - my children aren't props, they're people."

Mr Brown also lashed back at Mr Cameron's claim that a broken society exists, insisting: "I don't believe Britain is broken ... this is a country being lifted up every day by the people who love it."

He left the stage to warm cheers - and shook hands with ministers including Mr Miliband who in turn joined in the applause.

But despite an ovation of almost four minutes, his performance could not remove a shadow from over his continued leadership.

In the sidelines, MPs and ministers said there were still doubts about whether he could avoid a challenge in the coming weeks or months.

But delegates said it was Mr Brown's best conference performance yet - with union leaders and the Left wing particularly enthusiastic.

Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband called it "the speech of his life". GMB union boss Paul Kenny said he "came across absolutely brilliantly" while Unison's Dave Prentis said the hall "was with him".

Health

In the speech, Mr Brown announced that prescription charges for cancer patients, at £7.10 a time, would be waived from next year with the aim to extend this to all people with long-term conditions.

He promised more help for elderly people so they can stay in their homes longer rather than go into residential care. He also vowed to take on "vested interest" to ensure most GP practices open for longer, including at weekends and evenings.

Every person over 40 will also be able to get a free, universal health check-up from April.

Economy

Mr Brown said he would "make the right decisions to take people through the world downturn fairly".

He and Chancellor Alistair Darling would work to stabilise the turbulent markets and rebuild a new global financial system, he said, calling for more transparency, a return to sound banking and more "responsibility" from the City.

Crucially, he also vowed to remove "conflicts of interest so that bonuses should not be based on short term speculative deals but on hard work, effort and enterprise".

Public Spending

Mr Brown stressed that he had no "magic wand" to increase spending but moved to head off Tory accusations he had had wasted billions with little to show for it.

"Just as families have to make economies to make ends meet, so this Government must and will ensure that we get value for money out of every single pound of your money that is spent. But I say to you that we will invest it wisely, continuing our record investment in schools, Sure Start centres, transport and hospitals," he said.