The prime minister has accepted that Labour are the underdogs in the run-up to the next general election. Mr Brown promised that a fourth-term Labour government would be "absolutely different" , arguing that the world had changed fundamentally.

Speaking on today's programme, he said that he accepted "that we are the insurgents , we're not the incumbents any more in the way that you would describe an election in the past. And we've got a lot to do to persuade people".

In addition, he pledged to invest in and help a wide range of industries and said that the government had to be "more explicit about the responsibilities we demand of people who are citizens" and that it would have to show society that "there were boundaries between right and wrong".

And, while he said that he had decided in his own mind whether or not to participate in a leaders' debate in the run up to the next general election, Mr Brown refused to reveal what that decision was.