Reshuffle in a fortnight as Brown gets tough

And the Evening Standard has learned that the Prime Minister's closest allies want ministers to be subjected to a "loyalty test" to keep their jobs.

News that a shuffle is imminent raised tensions at the Manchester party conference, with Blairites warning Mr Brown against a purge of ministers who are suspected of plotting against his leadership.

One minister warned: "How big the reshuffle is will depend on how strong he is at the time."

There was talk of Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, a Blairite, and Defence Secretary Des Browne, a Brown loyalist, both leaving the Cabinet.

But Mr Brown's most senior supporters want him to go much further by cracking down on dissidents by insisting they make clear statements in private that they will support the Prime Minister's continued leadership.

One senior figure said: "We do not want a situation where rebels are both inside the tent and still p***ing on us.

"There is a big fight against Cameron ahead and it is rational to ask them: 'Are you up for it?'"

The source said that ministers who were being loyal in public now but were not prepared to commit themselves to remaining so ought to resign from the Government. "If someone thinks it is a question of timing, whether now is the right time or not, that person should have no place in the team," said the source.

However, a senior Blairite scoffed at the idea. "I would tell them I am absolutely committed to a Labour election victory," said the minister, making clear he would not feel bound to support Mr Brown indefinitely.

A senior source suggested the most likely time for the reshuffle would be in two weeks, when MPs and ministers return to the Commons. However, some Labour MPs hope Mr Brown will spring it next Thursday - the day after David Cameron's speech at the Tory conference - and overshadow Mr Cameron. The Prime Minster will tomorrow attempt to revive his support with a speech to the party conference hall that is being billed as setting out more clearly his personal beliefs and values. Aiming to address critics who say he lacks a vision, Mr Brown will set out what he thinks the Labour Party exists for and what motivated him to get into politics.

However, there were coded criticisms of his style from ministers on the conference fringe.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said Labour needs to restore the "emotional connection" it had with voters in 1997. She said: "We are not going to win by reciting lists of achievements. They mean nothing.

"And nor will we win simply by denouncing the Tory record."

But Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, denied the Cabinet was divided. "Ours is remarkably unfactional actually," he told BBC Radio's Today programme. "If you look at it ideologically, if you look at it in terms of what we're trying to do, our Government is quite remarkably unified."

Mr Darling admitted that the Prime Minister's speech tomorrow was important to the future of the Labour party.

"All of us know that it's important that Gordon tomorrow sets out his vision about what the Labour Government stands for. Many people have had their criticisms but he knows where he stands."

Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said the Government had to improve its communications: "We have not lost, people have just stopped listening, and if we change the way we talk, what we say now will be as important as it was in 1997 and will be in 2012."

Labour MP Ian Gibson said Mr Brown's speech needed to provide "that Obama moment" of inspiration for delegates or "it could be curtains for him".

In an interview yesterday Mr Brown said he had made mistakes and promised: "I will do better."