Brown delivers his key speech

Gordon Brown will be hoping to rally his troops this week

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made a speech seen as vital to his future at the Labour Party Conference.

His promises included creating 250,000 free childcare places for two-year-olds from poor families and a network of care homes for 16 and 17-year-old parents.

The PM also said the minimum wage would rise in each of the next five years if Labour got re-elected in next year's general election.

In a speech which lasted about an hour, he also promised a crackdown on antisocial behaviour and said 'alcohol ASBOs' would be given to people who commit crime while under the influence.

Following the MPs' expenses scandal the public will also get the power to have a 'recall' vote if their MP is found guilty of 'unacceptable behaviour'.

Big rival

The PM was hoping to convince the audience in Brighton that he still had what it takes to run the country and keep his job as the party's leader.

Support for Mr Brown is lower than it's ever been.

With an election due by June, he needs a change in fortunes to compete with his big rival, Conservative leader David Cameron.

The prime minister needed to convince his people not just that the election could be won, but also that he's the right man to win it.

Mr Brown's words before his big speech were full of fighting talk, with promises to "fight to win" the next general election.

He started the conference by attacking the Tories.

"If we believe, as we will prove, that the Conservatives would take us backwards to the years we thought we had left in the recession of the 1980s and 90s, then we are the party fighting for the future," he said.

There were also promises of better care for cancer patients and Mr Brown was keen to put across his role as a leader who's helping the world out of recession.

As part of other Labour policies, business Secretary Peter Mandelson announced during his speech on Monday that the car scrappage scheme is to be extended.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged new laws to stop bankers' yearly bonuses in his speech.