Brown defiant after Sun rejection

Gordon Brown has shrugged off the Sun's decision to back the Conservatives at the next election by insisting "it is people that decide elections".

The newspaper's front page on Wednesday is headlined "Labour's Lost it".

The tabloid backed Labour in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections but the prime minister said: "It's the British people's views I'm interested in."

The Sun's declaration came hours after Mr Brown's party conference speech insisted Labour was "not done yet".

The Sun's decision to desert Labour in this way and at this time will cause dismay in Labour ranks Nick Robinson, BBC political editor Nick Robinson's Newslog What papers made of speech

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the paper had "timed its big political switch... for maximum impact both in terms of gaining attention for the paper and taking the gloss off Mr Brown's big day".

Labour had known the move was coming, he added.

While the decision was unwelcome for Mr Brown, he did not expect the Sun to be as vocal in its criticism of the prime minister as it had been of Labour leader Neil Kinnock in 1992 when the paper claimed to have swayed the outcome of the election.