Britain's finance minister urged the government on Monday to stop bickering and unite behind Prime Minister Gordon Brown to fight a financial crisis.
Brown faces calls to quit from some members of his ruling Labour Party, which trails the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls, but says he is the best person to guide Britain through its economic problems.
Inflation and unemployment are high in Britain, the housing market is in decline and the economy is on the brink of recession.
"Despite the fact we really are facing very difficult conditions, I'm confident we will get through it," finance minister Alistair Darling said.
"What I would say to my colleagues is for goodness sake, just concentrate on the job at hand…Gordon Brown, I believe, is the best person to lead this country. He will continue to do so."
Darling was due to address Labour's annual decision-making conference in the city of Manchester at around 1110 GMT.
He said the government was ready to support Britain's economy after a week in which one of the world's biggest investment banks and the U.S. government proposed a $700-billion bank bailout.
"What I'm determined to do is to make sure that after 10 years of an economy growing pretty strongly that we get through this difficult time," he said.
VOTERS' DISCONTENT
Brown, 57, was finance minister for a decade before taking over from Tony Blair as prime minister 15 months ago without a leadership election. The next parliamentary election is due by mid-2010.
Voters appear fed up with Labour after 11 years in power. The economy, once the jewel in the party's crown, has been hit by the global credit crunch and is on the brink of recession for the first time since 1992.
Darling said there were signs that annual inflation, which at 4.7 percent is more than twice the central bank's target, would come down because oil prices have fallen and it was important to put the banking system back on its feet.
The government helped last week to broker a deal to save Britain's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS Plc. But he gave no indication that Britain would buy up toxic loans in a U.S.-style state-funded bailout.
The financial crisis and how to deal with it has become the central policy issue for this year's Labour conference after Brown stood firm against calls to resign last week. Four junior members of the government quit or were sacked.
But doubts remain over whether Brown can survive until the next election because the party is so far behind the Conservatives in opinion polls.
