Brown the healer as he sets out to woo Britain

GORDON Brown set out his vision of leading Britain into an era of spin-free politics, pledging to heal the scars left by Tony Blair over Iraq and parliamentary sleaze while not going back on New Labour's reforms of public services.

The prime minister in waiting signalled the end to the Blair era obsession with presentation and vowed to "listen and learn".

Mr Brown rejected the notion that he would drag the party back to its Old Labour ways, where "sectional interest" was more important than the views of the general voters.

Under the slogan "Gordon Brown for Britain", he promised a new constitution that would "protect the Union" - a clear warning to the Scottish Nationalists.

But much of his speech was designed to appeal to Middle England - and reassure those who made the transition from the Tories to his party in 1997 that he would not evacuate the centre ground.

Indeed, it was English marginal constituencies that Mr Brown wanted to concentrate on yesterday, as he set off on a series of whirlwind visits.

The day started for him in Enfield, which was the seat of Michael Portillo, the former Tory Cabinet minister who was a casualty of Labour's 1997 landslide.

He had good news early on, with two of his strongest critics endorsing him: Alan Milburn and Stephen Byers, both former Blairite Cabinet ministers.

In an endorsement lacking his usual spark, Mr Blair also said of Mr Brown: "He has shown, as perhaps the most successful chancellor in our country's history, that he's got the strength and the experience and the judgment to make a great prime minister."

While a challenge to Mr Brown could still come from the left-wing camps of Michael Meacher or John McDonnell, he is all but assured of the job to be vacated by Mr Blair on 27 June.

During his launch, Mr Brown did not distance himself from the reforms of New Labour, but he signalled a move away from the "cult of celebrity" and sleaze allegations that had tarnished Mr Blair's years in office.

He implicitly criticised the legacy of his predecessor, stating that his premiership would be guided by a "moral compass" instilled in him by his father, a Scots minister of religion, and his mother.

Heeding criticism for not showing enough of his "human" side, Mr Brown also spoke about the rugby accident when he was a teenager that nearly robbed him of his sight.

The Chancellor acknowledged that one of the biggest rifts he would have to heal was Iraq. He plans to go there before he takes over

at Number 10.

Although Mr Brown stressed his determination to confront terrorism, he said it must succeed "not only militarily but also opening a new front: working with our allies to win the battle of hearts and minds at home and abroad".

His approach to Iraq would focus on uniting the divided communities and building jobs, as much as security, he said.

Ignoring the usual rule never to discuss the Queen's Speech, Mr Brown said one of his first pledges before parliament would be to conduct a widespread public consultation on future policy.

"I want to lead a government humble enough to know its place," he said.

He referred to the party as "New Labour", a signal to Blairites that he was not moving from the centre ground. "I am absolutely committed to continuing the reforms we started," he said.

Mr Brown, denounced as a ruthless Stalinist by a top civil servant, promised inclusivity. His government would draw on talents from outside the party, he said, a clear signal that he would not recoil from using expertise from the private sector to shore up public services.

The citizen would be in control of public services, he said, which exist "for the pupil, the parent, the patient and the public who are to be served".

His government would relinquish some of its powers of patronage in the same way as the Treasury under Mr Brown had given power to the Bank of England to set interest rates.

One move expected from Mr Brown is to distance the NHS from politics by appointing an independent board to run it, similar to the Monetary Policy Committee.

Anyone nominated for high office in the public sector could be subject to US Senate-style hearings, he said.

In a clear warning to unions and public sector workers hoping for inflation-busting pay rises, he said: "This will be a government of the national interest and will not be a government of any sectional interest.

"We speak for the whole country, we do not speak for one interest in the country, or one faction or one group."

The remark was also meant to reassure Middle England that he would not forget its interests, as was his line that he would "rule for the whole of Britain".

The only time Mr Brown's mood appeared to darken was when he was asked how he would work with an administration in Holyrood that was not driven by Labour.

"Let's wait and see what happens in Scotland," he said.

Labour insiders said this showed Mr Brown had not reconciled himself to the loss of the election in Scotland - while his slogan "Gordon Brown for Britain" seemed to highlight, rather than disguise, his Scottishness.

His pledge to overhaul the constitution included a vow to "strengthen the Union".

If Mr Brown was spoiling for a confrontation, Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, was not going to give him one. Before his expected swearing in as First Minister next week, Mr Salmond said he believed Mr Brown would "work constructively" with an SNP-led administration.

TEN STEPS TO NUMBER 10

EVEN if he does not face an election for the top job, Gordon Brown will be eager to prove he has the mandate to govern for the whole country. In the weeks ahead, here are 10 things he will want to tick off his "to do" list:

• 1. Show he has learned lessons from the Scottish elections, take some responsibility for them and show he will work with Alex Salmond. As prime minister his party will need to be confident that Gordon Brown can win elections in the face of a resurgent Conservative Party under David Cameron.

• 2. Take more trips abroad: While Tony Blair was criticised for his jet-setting, there are fears Mr Brown is not well travelled enough, despite his anti-poverty initiatives in Africa, Iraq and recent visit to India.

• 3. Appease the reformers and, more importantly, swing voters in the country. Even those who criticise Mr Brown should be included in his top team if they have talent, such as John Hutton, the Blairite Work and Pensions Secretary.

• 4. Wipe the floor with David Cameron and his lieutenants by concentrating on his strengths. The Chancellor is a heavyweight, outflanking Mr Cameron with substance and detail on his vision.

• 5. Take seriously the concerns of first-time buyers while planning how to manage a decline in the economy. Much of the country's feel-good factor is built on soaring house prices, but not everyone has enjoyed a stake in these. What's worse is that Brown could suffer at the polls if the market slumps.

• 6. Continue to woo the City but make overtures to small business, the sector that got hammered in the last Budget. Mr Brown needs to reconnect with this substantial section of the electorate.

• 7. Get civil servants on board for any planned reforms and buck the idea that he is a ruthless Stalinist. One of Mr Blair's greatest bugbears was the resistance to his ideas in Whitehall.

• 8. Set out what he will do with the NHS and education, and reassess PFI for the sake of future generations.

• 9. Show the public more of the humorous and human side that is displayed potently away from the cameras.

• 10. Stop worrying about being Scottish. It could be the middle-class English who are more willing to embrace Britishness who could save the union for Mr Brown.

Keynote speech generates a mixed reaction

Joanne Williams, 39, lecturer

"I think he came across as very intelligent and more modest about his own celebrity than some other politicians.

"I thought at the beginning and the end he was very strong but in the middle of the speech I was slightly losing focus. I liked his focus on policy rather than personality - but I'm not sure if people will listen to him if he doesn't attract their attention. Towards the end, talking about himself, he really got into it and that was more engaging.

"He doesn't have that youthful glamour that David Cameron has or that Tony Blair had - but people might find it refreshing to go beyond the sound bytes and think about what Britain really needs."

Thom McCarthy, 57 businessman

"He's had a lot of time to consider his position. He's served his apprenticeship and he has a degree of maturity which is a good thing.

"He is more in the mould of John Smith than Tony Blair. But Brown is tarred with the same brush as Blair, he voted for the war in Iraq - and he destroyed many people's pensions.

"This is a shoo-in for Brown. He is the best person qualified for the post and we should give him a chance. But the most important thing will be how he deals with Iraq. The country is in a state of civil war and our soldiers are playing a holding game. He spoke about listening and learning and I hope he means it."

Ralph Sanders, 24, analyst

"I'D never seen a speech by him. He didn't come across as dour like people always say he is.

"At the beginning he didn't look all that comfortable. The substance was there but it was just like one big paragraph. Towards the end he did pick up, when he got away from the empty plaudits and he said: 'I'm going to do this', 'I'm going to do that'.

"But he came across as a little bit complacent. He knows he is the front runner. He doesn't have to make people's minds up. He just has to turn up.

But I'd be more likely to vote for Gordon Brown than Tony Blair - he's more trustworthy. Towards the end Tony Blair got a bit smarmy."

Charlotte Gosling, 28, PR manager

"He looked very tired. I wonder if he will do like Alan Sugar did and get an eye job? He kept using words like 'driving' and 'building'. It just made me feel he was going to drive everything and build everything, and I don't think that is what we need.

"It was a sort of 'one size fits all' speech - making sure he mentioned things like health, education and housing. I would have been more reassured if he had said I'm going to change these three things.

"I think Britain is very behind a lot of European countries in terms of things like carbon emissions and public transport."