UK premier-to-be Brown enjoys clear run to top job

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) After an agonising 13-year wait to lead Britain's Labour Party, Gordon Brown will now become prime minister without a fight and with clear signs he is benefiting from a post-Blair bounce in the polls.

Brown will take over when Tony Blair resigns on June 27 after his only potential party rival -- a left-winger whose challenge was always viewed as a token effort -- failed to win enough support from parliamentarians to get on the ballot paper.

''My passion is education, my immediate priority is the NHS (National Health Service),'' Brown said in a speech in London on Thursday, setting out his vision for the country.

''The new challenges -- affordable housing, building safe, secure and sustainable communities and building trust in our democracy -- these are my domestic priorities.'' Labour said Brown had won the support of 313 of the party's 353 lawmakers and declared nominations closed. The leader of the ruling party automatically takes over as prime minister.

Blair, increasingly unpopular after a decade in power, ended his finance minister's wait for the party leadership by announcing his resignation date last week.

Brown knows he has his work cut out to ensure a fourth straight victory for Labour at a national election due by May 2010 at the latest, and has wasted no time in moving on.

Brown has stressed how different he is from his predecessor, both in terms of policy and in his approach to politics.

Critics accused Blair of centralising power, bypassing lawmakers and being obsessed with celebrities and appearance.

Brown has pledged to give more power to parliament, to put ''citizens in control'' of their lives and to end personality-driven politics.

''He has started off talking about the right kinds of things.

Affordable homes wasn't a bad start, sorting out the NHS is a good start,'' said Labour lawmaker Ian Gibson, a frequent critic of Blair and the government.

''He's going to have to swing into action pretty quickly to restore people's confidence.'' Brown, often described as dour, now has six weeks of hustings events to put over his message without interruptions from party rivals.

Opinion polls show the start of Brown's leadership campaign has given Labour a bounce in support, but the Conservative opposition under youthful leader David Cameron still leads.

NEW EMPHASIS ON IRAQ On Iraq -- a policy that divided Britain and Labour, and ultimately forced Blair's early exit from office -- Brown faces a delicate balancing act, given that he backed the war.

Many in Labour were furious about Blair's support for the invasion and abhor his closeness to U.S. President George W Bush, whom Blair was visiting in Washington today.

Brown, who stood aside to allow Blair to become party leader in 1994, has admitted mistakes were made over the 2003 war.

He has rejected an immediate pullout of British troops from Iraq but he has promised a shift in emphasis towards greater economic development and political reconciliation to give all Iraqis a stake in their future.

He has said London should not be ''slavish'' to Washington but has said anti-Americanism would be a mistake. On Europe, Brown's allies have promised ''a hard-headed pro-European approach''.

The biggest difference between Blair and Brown is in style.

Brown already looks more relaxed but he lacks Blair's public ease.

Brown will want to use his image as a serious intellectual to his advantage by portraying Conservative rival Cameron as a telegenic lightweight with no political depth.

Reuters SKB DB2022