Brown picks his team, Darling is Chancellor

LONDON: Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, appointed a trusted ally as finance minister and promoted a rising star to the key post of foreign minister in a wide-ranging government shakeup.

Former environment minister David Miliband, 41, a reported critic of the Iraq war and once mooted as a leadership rival to Brown, was appointed foreign secretary, while loyal ally Alistair Darling, 53, succeeds Brown at the Treasury. Brown, who switched from finance minister to prime minister yesterday after Tony Blair resigned, acknowledged he must meet a demand for change from an electorate tired with 10 years of Labour Party rule, and draw a line under the unpopular Iraq war.

Analysts said the appointments of Darling and Miliband signalled no change in economic policy after Brown’s successful decade-long tenure as finance minister, but a shift of tone in foreign affairs. Brown has accepted responsibility for the cabinet decision to back the invasion of Iraq but will want to distance his government from Blair’s approach, which was deeply unpopular among voters.

‘’It’s a that Brown wants to shift the style and focus of Blair’s foreign policy,’’ said David Mepham, head of the international unit at the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Britain has been drawing down troop numbers in Iraq and now has about 5,500 in the south of the country. While Brown has pledged to stick to Britain’s commitments in Iraq, there is speculation the withdrawal may accelerate.

Top of Brown’s domestic list were changes in schools and in the state-run health service. Many Britons are unhappy with public services, even though Blair’s government pumped billions of pounds of extra funds into them. Brown will also try to respond to demands for more affordable housing. He is expected to make several policy announcements in the coming weeks.