Gordon Brown will become leader of Britain's governing Labour Party on Sunday, heralding a new political era that starts when he succeeds Tony Blair as prime minister in three days' time.
The 56-year-old Scot, finance minister throughout Blair's decade as premier, was to be elected unopposed to the party post, as neither of the two prospective candidates who hoped to run against him could get enough support.
In Britain, the head of the largest party in parliament becomes prime minister. Governing parties can change leader mid-term without a general election having to be called. As Labour lawmakers, grassroots members and affiliated trade unions gathered for a special conference that will also see the results of the party's deputy leadership contest announced, a newspaper poll indicated a "bounce" for Brown.
The Observer Ipsos Mori survey put Labour ahead of the main opposition Conservative Party for the first time in eight months with a 39 percent rating up four on last month-while the Tories were down one to 36 percent.
Forty percent thought Brown would be a more capable prime minister than the Conservatives' 40-year-old leader David Cameron, who polled 22 percent. But Brown immediately faced a legacy of Blair's premiership, as thousands of anti-war protesters demonstrated near the conference venue, demanding British troops be pulled out of Iraq within 100 days.
Brown has pledged to keep to Britain's plan of not withdrawing until conditions are right but Mark Krantz, from protest organisers the Stop the War coalition, told AFP he would do well to learn from Blair's experience. "He knows he's got the job as prime minister because Tony is going early. And the only reason he's going early is because of the disaster in Iraq," he said.
Brown's "coronation" comes 13 years after he agreed not to run against Blair for the Labour leadership, allegedly in exchange for unprecedented control over domestic policy and Blair handing over power after two terms as prime minister.
The pair's relationship, particularly allegations that Brown accused Blair of repeatedly reneging on "the deal", has dominated the British media ever since and split Labour along factional lines. Last September, in a move allegedly sanctioned by Brown, his supporters in parliament forced Blair into saying he would leave office within 12 months. Blair will look on as Brown makes his first speech as leader. According to leaked documents in the Independent on Sunday, he planned to sack Brown after the 2005 general election.
Labour's "old guard" are likely to be disappointed if they expect a return to the past. Despite having deeper roots in the left-wing of the party, Brown has shown little sign of diverging from the substance of Blair's modernising, centre-left "New Labour" agenda.
"Nobody is going to serve in the government of the Labour Party starting on Wednesday who is not prepared to support the manifesto of our party," Brown told BBC television in an interview broadcast Sunday. Brown's stance is unsurprising. He worked alongside Blair to restyle Labour and take it to a landslide general election victory in 1997. He was also complicit in all of Blair's decisions as prime minister, including Iraq.
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock told BBC television Sunday there would be "no radical new direction" but a change in style, "some acceleration, some change of emphasis to demonstrate freshness and relevance."
Brown will seek to disprove claims he is too domineering plus rehabilitate Labour damaged by its reputation for media manipulation or "spin" and the effects of party funding corruption allegations and lack of accountability.