Gordon Brown set to become UK PM

PM IN WAITING: Brown has the backing of 45 Labour parliamentarians needed to stand for leadership.

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New Delhi: Tony Blair has endorsed Gordon Brown as the man to succeed him.

Blair has stopped just short of openly endorsing Brown, a stern Scot who has long coveted the top job. Last week, Blair said Brown would make ''a great prime minister''.

On Thursday, Blair announced his resignation, after 10 years in power.

Blair had come under a great deal of criticism for his delay in resigning.

The announcement came days after Blair celebrated the 10th anniversary of Labour's landslide election victory of May 1, 1997.

It came as Brown kicked off his campaign for the leadership of the Labour party. Brown is the only contender for now.

Brown, while launching his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister on Friday, pledged to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war and to tackle threats posed by terrorism and climate change.

Brown signaled that as prime minister, he would abandon Blair's presidential style of leadership by restoring Parliament's authority in decisions such as when to go to war.

He alone has the backing of 45 Labour parliamentarians needed to stand for the party leadership.

The new Labour leader automatically becomes prime minister.