Gordon Brown will dominate the Labour conference in Bournemouth today with a Prime Minister�s speech setting out his vision for another 10 years of Labour government.

Gordon Brown will dominate the Labour conference in Bournemouth today with a Prime Minister's speech setting out his vision for another 10 years of Labour government.

Having restlessly waited a decade in the Treasury before achieving his lifelong ambition, and having removed any possible challengers from his sights, Mr Brown is expected to get a rapturous welcome from a Labour Party no longer divided by the Blair/Brown faultline.

To avoid any suggestion of pre-speech spinning, Mr Brown set out his ambitions for government in a five-page letter to the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. He set out six main challenges for the decade ahead:

• Responding to rising public aspirations with a new standard of public services.

• Globalisation, with change happening at speed and a "moral necessity" to liberate the talents of people in Britain.

• Security and terrorism, that includes a "yearning for a Britain of stronger, safer communities".

• Dramatic changes in the make-up of society with a changing age profile raising "profound issues".

• Environmental issues, including climate change.

• Pressure on parents "as they embark on the unforgettable journey of bringing up their children".

Even if Mr Brown has decided to call a snap election, and that still remains more unlikely than likely, he is not expected to make any potential announcement today although speculation dominated the chatter in the margins of the conference.

Mr Brown is getting conflicting advice. Seasoned hands suggest some of the young Turks in his inner circle, buoyed by recent polls, are urging him to go to the country earlier than later but others, including some of the more experienced heads, are urging caution.

If Mr Brown does decide to make an early dash to the polls, it is likely to be announced after the Tory Party conference in Blackpool next week.

Whatever his eventual decision, he will come under pressure from colleagues who fear that the constant speculation could eventually harm the government as well as destabilising the Tories, probably the original intention.

Michael Portillo, a former Tory cabinet member, admitted yesterday that the prospect of an early election was "frightening" the party.

He said: "The atmosphere that there might be an election very, very soon is dominating thinking and, I think, frightening the Tories. I have been undecided for a long time as to whether this whole exercise by Gordon Brown is simply a way of putting the frighteners on the Conservative party.

"It's certainly already forced Cameron to bring forward all sorts of stuff that he would have liked to have brought out over a couple of years. It's set up confusion in the party."

Mr Brown refused to be drawn on any election speculation yesterday, and insisted he was getting "on with the job", but that did not stop allies fuelling the debate.

Ed Balls, a close ministerial ally of the Prime Minister, said whatever decision was made it would not simply be a political calculation.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend, he warned the public would be sceptical if they sensed an election had been called to capitalise on an upturn for Labour in the opinion polls.

Later, Downing Street sources dismissed as "ridiculous" the suggestion Mr Balls was rowing back from an early election, while former party leader Neil Kinnock was adamant there would not be a snap election.

However, Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, last night appeared to clear one potential obstacle for Mr Brown in calling an autumn election by telling The Herald that he felt there would not be a problem given the scale of the current outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Speaking after a farming fringe at conference, he said: "I don't see any issue between the farming community and an election at this moment in time."