London: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
on Saturday sought to win over middle class voters ahead of a
general election with promises of more jobs as his Labour
Party struggles to stay in power.
Brown said Labour would create "more middle class jobs
than ever before" if the party overcomes its lag in opinion
polls and wins a national vote which must be held by June.
Brown has previously sniped at main opposition
centre-right Conservative leader David Cameron for his
privileged education and background.
That led the Tories to accuse him of fighting an
old-fashioned, left-wing class war in a bid to shore up
Labour's traditional vote -- in the face of looming defeat.
In a major speech to centre-left activists, Brown said:
"Social mobility will be our theme for the coming election and
the coming parliamentary term.
"A fair society is one where everyone who works hard and
plays by the rules has a chance to fulfil their dreams whether
that's owning a bigger house, taking a holiday abroad, buying
a new car or starting a small business.
"This is the next project for New Labour.... The coming
decade will provide the UK with more middle class jobs than
ever before."
Brown also wrote in The Guardian newspaper today that he
wanted to see "an expanded middle class, not a squeezed middle
class".
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 00:23