Manchester(England): The man seeking to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday he regretted the distraction caused by bitter infighting within their governing Labour Party.
In a speech seen as key to his hopes of becoming premier, Treasury chief Gordon Brown praised Blair effusively as a visionary leader but acknowledged the ups and downs in their long relationship.
"Where differences have been a distraction from what matters, I regret that, and I know Tony does too," Brown told Labour's annual conference in Manchester, northern England.
He echoed Blair's call for Labour to stop obsessing about its internal politics and focus on policies that matter to Britons.
"The only reason any of us is here is that we are in politics as servants of the people," he said.
Labour's gathering in Manchester provides a key forum for Brown, who has shed his low profile recently in a public relations offensive meant to show Britons he's the right man for the job he has long coveted.
Brown clearly agrees with Blair that keeping a lock on the political center is key to Labour's electoral hopes, a position that disappoints many on the party's left.
Many Labour loyalists had also hoped Brown might promise to pull back from Blair's firm alignment with the US, but he did not do so.
He acknowledged Britain and America could have done a better job in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's ouster but said he had never had any doubts about the war.
"I think on what's happened since September 11, Tony Blair was absolutely right to stand shoulder to shoulder with America. It is exactly what I would have done, and what all should want to do when we are facing a big problem which cane only be faced by all of our allies working together," he said.
Blair gave in to a fierce party revolt to announce on September 7 that he would leave office within a year, although he has not set a precise date.
Suspicions that Brown engineered the rebellion have soured segments of the party on him, although he has denied any role.
Brown lacks Blair's charisma and gregariousness, and some Labour loyalists worry that will put him at a disadvantage when Labour is up against the self-assured young Conservative leader David Cameron in elections expected in 2009.
A poll last week had worrying news for Brown, showing slightly more people thought Cameron would make a good prime minister – 35 per cent said so, compared to 32 per cent who said Brown would be the best leader.
By significant margins, those questioned by the ICM polling firm for The Guardian newspaper said they thought Cameron was more likable, more honest and better able to get along with others than Brown, although more said Brown could be trusted to make the right decisions. ICM questioned 1,066 people with a margin of error of three percentage points.
Some Labour backers have begun questioning the sense of inevitability surrounding Brown's leadership hopes.
Blair and Brown have sought to calm the angry infighting that roiled the party in the months leading up to Blair's announcement. The prime minister has warned that any more sniping will play into the hands of the resurgent Conservative Party, which hopes to retake power in elections expected in 2009.
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