ePolitix.com asked leading Labour figures for their reaction to Gordon Brown's first party conference speech as prime minister.

Alastair Campbell

Former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell: Obviously Gordon has been a very high-profile figure for a long time, but he's still relatively new in terms of being prime minister.

The party conference is one those moments in the political calendar when people follow politics a little bit more closely than they normally do.

For me, I really liked it. I imagined Gordon might have been a bit reluctant to do some of the personal stuff, but actually that's what I think was important for him to do.

I think that the way he told the story about his own accident when he was young and what his parents meant to him, I actually think people will want to hear that and they are very good at making judgments about whether people are being genuine or not and that was very genuine and is what he is and where he is from and it says a lot about his politics. I like that.

And I also think that setting it out in some detail with obviously more to come, come the spending review, the Queen's speech, some of the areas in relation to crime, health, education, families, the balance between work and family life, I think that was important, and I think they will become really important debates in the battlegrounds with the Conservatives as well.

Question: A year ago could you have envisioned such a smooth transition over the last few months?

Alastair Campbell: Well I could, but I think I was in a minority then, and I think the stable and orderly transition has been a huge tribute to everybody in the Labour Party and the seriousness with which the Labour Party now takes the fact that we are in power.

A year ago, there was all the talk of division and divisiveness, and people saying that it wouldn't be possible without a kind of bloodbath, well it happened and it's happened very well and its put us in a very strong position. I remember in 1992, people basically making the judgment after that election that we would never win power again. And we won in '97, we won again in 2001, we won again in 2005 and we are very well placed again.

Question: He also paid tribute to Tony Blair, is that the end of the rift if there ever was one?

Alastair Campbell: Well I don't think anyone could ever pretend it was always 100 per cent hunky-dory, but look, the world moves on and the fact is that Gordon is now prime minister.

Anybody who has looked at the last 10 years would have to acknowledge the incredible role that Tony played in getting us from being a party of opposition to a party of government. Now Gordon's in charge and has to set out his own priorities.

But the reason why I always felt the transition would be as seamless and as smooth and as successful as it's been, is because Gordon has always had this fantastic strategic position which is that he is able to represent both continuity and change, and that is a very good place to be.

Geoff Hoon

Chief whip Geoff Hoon: I think he set out, not only to continue the policy success of 10 years of a Labour government, but I think he did so in his own way. And I thought that the best passages were the personal ones where he said what politics means to him and what he wants to do to change this country.

We've all seen the remarkable success he has had over the summer dealing with a series of crises, but above all else I think he emphasises not simply about managing the system, which he has done very successfully, it's actually about changing our system and I thought he set that out very well.

Des Browne

Defence and Scotland secretary Des Browne: I thought it was one of the best speeches I've heard Gordon Brown give. He's always had the ability to speak to the party.

I think from the position of strength that he now occupies as a prime minister whom the country has confidence in, he was able to speak to the people of Britain, he was able to speak to them about their aspirations to describe them, he was able to speak to them about why he shared them and he was able to analyse how we can achieve those ambitions together. And not only that, I think this is important for the message that we give from the conference this week.

He was able to tell them that we recognise where we have fallen short of our ambitions in the past and how we can correct that going forward.

Question: It seemed like a much more emotional, personal speech, did you notice that change of tone?

Des Browne: Well, those of us who know Gordon, I mean I don't pretend to know him intimately, but those of us who know him, know why he is in politics. And I think the people of the country know that he is their prime minister, they are entitled to know why he holds the views that he holds.

I think without soft soaping it, without being over emotional, he just explains from his own personal experiences how he shared their hopes and aspirations and ambitions, but also an experience of their challenges from his own personal history and we all know that and I think that it's important to people, to know that their politicians are real people.

Question: There was a great emphasis on Britain and Britishness, is that a unifying call or some kind of nervousness about the success of the SNP?

Des Browne: I think it is an aspect of the theme that rang through the speech which was one of strength.

It's a description of where we are strongest. And again, I believe that he speaks for the vast majority of the people across the United Kingdom, including the vast majority of those in Scotland when he says 'I know what you know and that is that we are stronger together, and we can achieve much more together'.

So there is a Scottish member of parliament as prime minister, as prime minister of the United Kingdom, explaining to the people right across these islands, what they already know and what they’ve benefited from.

Jim Murphy

Europe minister Jim Murphy: I thought it was, really fantastic; with new ideas, new proposals, and very well received, and a part was very personal.

I've never heard him speak before about his rugby accident, the injury and the long-term damage and the blindness that the injury caused. To do that, I thought, was very poignant.

I thought it was noticeable that he was determined and very clear that he is here to govern for the whole country, not a section or a factual interest and that came across.

There was none of the traditional party political knock-about; it was a serious, substantial speech, full of ideas, which, the intention being of course to draw contrast between himself and Cameron next week.

Question: It was a much more personal, emotional speech than we've heard before. Do you think that's a deliberate repositioning or is that too cynical, is he just growing into the role in a different kind of way?

Jim Murphy: I just think he's growing into the role, feeling more comfortable, he's allowing the British public to know more about him and the evidence over the past few months of course has been that they've liked what they've seen and what they’ve heard. And that's testified to by the polling, the increased poll ratings.

Question: It seems less likely that there will be an autumn election now judging by the tone of that. What's your feeling?

Jim Murphy: I don't know if you can read anything about that. My sense and my view before I arrived and my view still today, as he said himself, you get on with the business of government. If you do it well, everything else will look after itself, come the election.

So, the important thing is to obsess about the business, the priorities, the public, rather than their own jobs, their own positions. If you do that, you do that consistently everyday, you focus on those priorities, election, at wherever it takes place, will look after itself.

Question: A year ago, could you have imagined the transition would be this successful?

Jim Murphy: I think there was a great deal of scepticism, that the Labour Party for the first time in its history could manage a transition at this time. We're all buoyant, optimistic about the future, it's gone spectacularly well.

But ultimately, we are not going to be judged on transition, we are going to be judged on whether we can govern and deliver. And that's what Gordon set out today, not looking about a transition over the past year, were looking about on how we can change the country, not change leadership of the Labour Party and that's the focus, changing the country rather than any changes taking place in the past leaders.

Rhodri Morgan

Welsh first minister Rhodri Morgan: I thought it was brilliant, because it established Gordon on the wavelength to the British people. It's a one of us speech.

I'm one of us, he's one of us to the Labour Party, but he's one of us to people watching outside. They'll all be saying he's one of us, and he's on the wavelength, the right wavelength.

Question: It seemed a much more personal and emotional speech than we've heard form him before. Do you agree?

Rhodri Morgan: Yes, because people have said that he can be a bit distant. But he's not. He's a very warm person.

I think he was trying to show that he is warm, and he bleeds like the rest of us and when we cry he cries, and when he laughs, we laugh and so on. I mean the speech brought out the personal warmth which we have not seen before because he's not had the opportunity before.

Question: Obviously people have been speculating about an early election. What do you think?

Rhodri Morgan: I can't tell you anything about that to be honest whether he is going to go to an election or not, but the option is there. The by-election results at the moment are very much running our way.

On the other hand, he is obviously enjoying what he is doing, and he's got to, you know, feel that probably, that he needs to get on with it.