Brown fights to win over party doubters

By Sumeet Desai and Matt Falloon

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a major challenge in a speech to his Labour Party on Tuesday to silence critics who question his leadership.

After 11 years in power, the ruling Labour Party is lagging some 20 points behind the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls. That puts it on course for a crushing defeat at the next parliamentary election, due by mid-2010.

Brown, 57, took over from Tony Blair 15 months ago without a leadership election and lacks Blair's easy charm. Some Labour lawmakers want to replace Brown with a leader better able to win over voters fed up with Labour rule and worried about the threat of economic recession.

One member of Labour's influential executive committee told Reuters the prime minister had been given time to sort out the economic crisis but would have to go next July after European elections if he had failed to reverse poor poll ratings.

Brown, chancellor for a decade under Blair, will tell delegates at Labour's annual conference that his experience makes him the best person to guide the country through the financial turmoil sweeping the world.

But he is also expected to admit that his government had made mistakes. It had to learn from these and concentrate on winning a fourth term by helping Britons weather the economic downturn.

"A government fighting on behalf of the people will get the support of the people," said Derek Simpson, joint chief of the biggest trades union and Labour Party sponsor Unite.

"With a change of policy, not a change of leader, we can win the next election."