In his second reshuffle in eight months, Mr Brown changed the heads of 10 ministries, but retained his finance minister, foreign minister and the head of the business ministry, shoring up his power in the teeth of widespread party dissent.

'I will not waver, I will not walk away, I will get on with the job and I will finish the work,' Mr Brown told a news conference after giving details of the cabinet shake-up.

It included replacing six senior ministers who had quit their posts.

Mr Brown's government has been under severe pressure for the past month, after a parliamentary expenses scandal exposed wrongdoing among politicians from all parties and left voters particularly angry with the incumbents.

In the reshuffle, Mr Brown had been expected to replace Finance Minister Alistair Darling, a close ally, but appeared to back away from that move after Mr Darling made it known he did not want to go.

In the end the shake-up produced less movement than expected as Mr Brown kept key ministers in their posts to retain their loyalty.

While he has bought himself some breathing space, his authority has been wounded at a time when Britain is in its deepest recession in 60 years and unemployment is rising. Labour is well behind the centre-right Conservatives in opinion polls.

Markets and voters are looking for strong government and clarity on when the next parliamentary election will be held.

If Mr Brown manages to survive the current crisis, it looks likely that he will wait for as long as possible before calling the next election. The deadline is June next year. -- REUTERS