Brown: We're not done yet; CONFERENCE: PM tries to rally the Labour party faithful.

Byline: Jonathan Walker 

NOBODY likes losing. And it's hard to motivate your team when they've got no chance of winning.

So one of Gordon Brown's first tasks was to convince his own Labour activists that the general election could still go their way.

And when he delivered his speech to the party conference, he insisted: "We are not done yet."

There was nothing "inevitable" about a Conservative victory, he said.

"Now is not the time to give in, but to reach inside ourselves for the strength of our convictions. Because we are the Labour Party and our guiding duty is to stand, to fight, to win and to serve."

It was rousing stuff, although it didn't receive quite the rapturous applause he may have been hoping for. That came earlier, when the Prime Minister listed Labour's achievements over the past century and had delegates on their feet, cheering.

Perhaps the party prefers to think about what it's done in the past than to worry about the future.

Yet Mr Brown probably succeeded in convincing those present in the conference hall to carry on campaigning.

But what matters more is whether he convinced voters that Labour is still worth backing.

There were some new policy ideas, including turning post offices into fully-fledged banks, in order to keep them open.

And stopping single teenage mums from getting council flats, instead placing them in supervised accommodation - at least, until they turn 18. There were also plans to give elderly people with conditions such as dementia free care at home, so they no longer need to sell their houses.

But how will these be paid for? By cutting budgets such as "advertising and marketing" and "management consultancy", apparently. It remains to be seen whether the money really is out there. Plans for minor changes to the voting system don't sound exciting. But Mr Brown may have an ulterior motive here - like reaching out to the Liberal Democrats, who are keen on voting reform, and whose help he could need to form a coalition government after the next election.

There was a pretty brutal attack on the Tories too, with Mr Brown claiming "they showed they had no hearts".

They say a wounded animal is the most dangerous, and perhaps that also applies to politicians.

Because Mr Brown pulled no punches in his attacks on David Cameron, and we can expect to see a particularly vicious election campaign.

CAPTION(S):

Don't give in: Gordon Brown delivers rallying cry at his party's conference.