Brown in vow to improve NHS

The Chancellor, who formally launched his leadership bid on Friday, acknowledged that after ten years in power, the Government had to improve its performance on the NHS.

"We will and have to do better. It is an immediate priority," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Campaigning later in Gillingham in Kent - one of the key South-east marginal constituencies where his electoral appeal is thought to be weakest - Mr Brown stressed the importance of developing services in line with the needs of patients.

"I want an NHS that's there for people when they need it," he said. "I see us building up the NHS and making it a great British institution and making it the envy of the world."

He said that he wanted to see more walk-in centres, better out-of-hours access to GPs, and pharmacies carrying out basic procedures like blood pressure tests, but offered no firm commitments.

The Chancellor was spending the weekend on the campaign trail despite the absence of a realistic challenge to his bid to succeed Mr Blair as Labour leader and Prime Minister.

The two left-wing hopefuls, John McDonnell and Michael Meacher, will meet on Monday to see if between them they can muster enough nominations by Labour MPs for one of them to go forward as a candidate.

On Iraq, Mr Brown refused to be drawn into setting out a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops.

"I don't think at this stage you pre-set a date," he told the Today programme. "I want to make my own assessment of the situation," he said.