Pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown (photo) to shape up or quit intensified on the day before ? the second day of Labour Party?s annual conference in Manchester ? as rebel MPs seized on a survey predicting a Labour ?bloodbath? at the next election in 2010 with half of Brown?s Cabinet likely to be ?swept away,? giving Tories an unprecedented landslide victory.

The survey in the pro-Labour The Observer newspaper was likely to undermine Brown?s attempt to re-launch his leadership on the back of his government?s firm handling of the financial turmoil.

Gordon Brown has admitted he could do better as Foreign Secretary David Miliband ? the favourite to replace him should he step down ? took the platform at Labour annual conference yesterday.

?I want to do better?

Although Miliband has distanced himself from a leadership challenge, delivering a strong speech at the conference could fuel dissent among the party ranks.?I want to do better, obviously I always want to do better, my whole ethos, my school motto was ?I will try my utmost?, I want to do better always,? Brown told BBC television on the day before. ?When you have an international financial crisis, I happen to think I?m better prepared to deal with that than perhaps anyone.?

The prime minister, who took over in June 2007, said he was working with other world leaders including US President George W. Bush to establish international rules to regulate the financial system more tightly.

However, 11 company bosses condemned the government?s financial policy in a letter to the Financial Times, calling for a «new direction,» with a focus on simpler Asked about pressure for a change of Labour leader, Brown indicated he had no intention of stepping down and quoted author Joseph Conrad. ?The best way to deal with that storm is, he said, facing it, facing it. I think all the Cabinet and the government are of the same mind. We would be letting people down if suddenly we walked away and said ?we bail out?. What we do is we keep doing what is right for this country.?

When questioned about whether he would still be premier at the end of the year, Brown said: ?Yes, of course.?