Brown tells activists to return to party values

Gordon Brown will make an appeal today to traditional Labour values, calling on rank and file to build a "progressive consensus" for the 21st century. He will attempt to stamp his authority on the party in a speech containing echoes of his rousing conference claim last year that the party is "best when we are Labour".

Mr Brown will urge activists to focus on the party's principles instead of the set of initiatives coming out of Government. He is expected to say: "I want us to build a shared national purpose, a British progressive consensus, much more than a set of individual initiatives by politicians, but a set of beliefs now shared by the British people."

The Chancellor will assert the central role of the economy in Labour's success, warning that even the historic 1945 administration was derailed by economic failure. He will declare: "From being the party not trusted with the economy, Labour is today the only party trusted on the economy."

Mr Brown will insist that the economy is "central to people's concerns at the next election as at every election", adding: "We must show at all times we have the discipline and the strength to make the tough long-term fiscal and monetary decisions."

Last night Mr Brown pledged £100m a year to help debt relief for 32 of the poorest nations. He promised to write off Britain's share of the countries' debts to the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The move, part of increased aid budgets announced in this summer's three-year spending review, was designed to encourage the international community to speed efforts to write off Third World debt.

Mr Brown made his announcement at a party conference fringe meeting organised by the Trade Justice Movement, a coalition of aid organisations. But Peter Hardstaff, head of policy at the World Development Movement, warned: "By failing to cover International Monetary Fund debts and not including many other desperately poor countries means that unless further action is taken this does not represent a huge step forward."