Brown vows to stay the course in Iraq

London: Treasury chief Gordon Brown, speaking hours after securing the job of British prime minister, said yesterday he would work to rebuild trust in government but outlined no change in the divisive military commitment in Iraq.

"We cannot deny that there have been very big divisions of public opinion over Iraq," he told a news conference. "I do believe we are in a new stage now where people of this country recognise our obligations to a newly-elected Iraq government," he said.

Brown will take office after Prime Minister Tony Blair steps down on June 27. Brown was confirmed as the next leader of the governing Labour Party, and hence prime minister, when he was the only candidate nominated by the party. He secured nominations from 313 of his colleagues in the House of Commons.

On the Middle East, Brown pledged to "work very hard to combine a security solution, political reconciliation and the economic development that would give people a stake in the Middle East itself". He offered no initiatives immediately. "We will do it in concert with our allies to build a Middle East peace process," he said.

Asked "how big an admirer you are" of George W. Bush, Brown answered without any personal reference to the US president.

"The relationship between a British prime minister and an American president must and ought to be a very strong one, and I look forward to building that relationship with the president of the United States. And I think it's often forgotten ... that the values that the American people hold and the values that the British people hold ... have been shared right across the decades..."