Brown 'to do better' after mistakes

Speaking at the Labour conference in Manchester which has been dominated by speculation about his leadership, Mr Brown denied his senior colleagues were plotting to replace him, insisting that he led "a pretty united Cabinet".

He said that his handling of the turmoil in the financial markets of the past few days showed that he was the right man to lead the country through difficult economic times which required "wisdom and judgment".

In an interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, he sought to brush off suggestions that his position was in peril, responding to the question of whether he expected still to be Prime Minister at Christmas with a firm: "Yes, of course."

And he left no doubt that he has no plans to step aside for a new leader, as some critics have demanded, saying that it would be letting down the British people if he was to "bail out".

Mr Brown used the interview to highlight his plans for a £1 billion package of free childcare for two-year-olds and to take a swipe at "irresponsibility" in the financial markets.

In comments calculated to appeal to the left of his party, he also criticised "unacceptable" features of the City bonus system that failed to take account of long-term performance, calling for new international rules governing rewards.

Mr Brown acknowledged that Britain was going through a "testing" time, with families struggling to cope with rising prices of food and fuel. But he urged voters not to treat the upcoming election as a referendum on the performance of the Labour administration but as a choice between his party's policy platform and that of the Conservatives, who he said had made the wrong judgments on issues like the nationalisation of Northern Rock and the ban on short-selling.

He told Andrew Marr: "You asked me had we made mistakes and I said yes."

Asked if he accepted he personally had made mistakes, as well as the Government as a whole, he replied: "Yes". And he added: "Of course I always want to do better and I will do better."