Brown: I'll get Muslims to take pride in Britain

Gordon Brown today signalled that his first task as Prime Minister would be to get Muslims to rally around a "Churchillian" pride in Britain.

Finally admitting that he expected to take over from Tony Blair this year, the Chancellor said that he wanted to promote a "modern patriotism" as an alternative to Islamic extremism. Mr Brown said: "I believe we can do more to separate some Muslims from the dark forces that they can be susceptible to."

Speaking on the last day of his tour of India, which has been overshadowed by the Big Brother racism row, he revealed for the first time that he was more "relaxed" about roving from his Treasury brief.

Mr Brown has repeatedly refused in the past to speculate about his chances of moving into No10 and has always stuck to his formula that it is a matter for the Labour Party and Mr Blair.

But today he spoke candidly of how he is "excited" at the prospect of taking over as Prime Minister.

With the handover approaching this summer, and it looking increasingly likely he will be unopposed for the top job, Mr Brown brushed aside his previous reticence to talk instead of "how I will deal with the challenges" facing Britain in the world.

He said: "When you're looking at the next set of challenges that the country faces I'm very excited. There's a chance for a huge breakthrough on the environment, on security and the economy. And I'm optimistic about that and it's going to be good for Britain in the world.

"I think that's what keeps me going, that's what makes me tick."