London - Embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed Monday that he was the right man to lead the country through an "astonishing period of change" as trade unions plotted to challenge the government's policy of public sector pay restraint.

Brown, whose ability as leader has been openly questioned from within the ruling Labour Party, took his entire cabinet to Birmingham, central England, for its first session after the parliamentary summer recess in an attempt to demonstrate that the government is "close to the people" and listening to their concerns.

It is the first time since 1921 that a cabinet meeting has been held outside London, going back to the days of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who summoned ministers to Inverness, in Scotland.

However, the government's cabinet meeting in Birmingham's International Convention Centre (ICC) was dismissed as a "gimmick" by the opposition Conservatives, as trade union leaders gathered in the southern port of Brighton to map out a strategy to fight the government's 2-per cent limit on pay rises in the public sector.

"There are no quick answers. It requires leadership, squaring up to hard truths," Brown told cabinet ministers Monday. The changes unleashed by the global credit crunch coincided with "huge economic competition" from China and the rest of Asia.

"I do not underestimate the challenges but I believe Britain's future is bright," said Brown.

His response to the great challenges in his own life had always been to confront them, resolute in the belief that they could be overcome, Brown said.

Since he came to power at the end of June, 2007, Brown has been accused of "dithering" and indecision by critics amid talk of a leadership challenge before the next general election, due by 2010.

But Monday, Foreign Secretary David Milliband, seen as the most likely candidate for a leadership challenge, said he was convinced Brown could "lead the party to victory."

Meanwhile, trade union leaders gathering in Brighton for the annual conference of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) called on the government to "stop squabbling" and to adress the "problems of the working people" who were facing the dual challenges of economic slowdown and rising fuel and energy prices.

TUC member unions agreed on a series of protests this autumn to underline their demand for an abolition of the 2-per cent limit on public sector pay limit when inflation is running at 5 per cent.

Speakers accused the government of "shabby treatment" of teachers, nurses and civil servants and said Brown had "lost the plot" and was acting like a "rabbit in the headlights" rather than championing the interests of ordinary people.

In harsh language reminiscent of the antagonism between Labour and the trade unions in the 1970s, trade union leaders launched open attacks on the "super-rich" who were taking wealth away from ordinary people.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber called for higher taxes for the super-rich so that fairness and justice could be restored to society.

"Fairness is the lifeblood of the Labour movement," Barber told the TUC congress. "The super-rich have not created much in the way of extra wealth - they have mostly taken it from the rest of us. It's Robin Hood in reverse," he said.