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. (dpa)