New British prime minister Gordon Brown has close ties to the U.S. and is expected to continue the special relationship between Britain and the United States. LEFTERIS PITARAKIS | Associated Press

Brown, who has been Britain's equivalent of treasury secretary during Blair's tenure, has close ties to the U.S. and is expected to continue the special relationship between Britain and the United States.

Brown backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which is highly unpopular here and had weakened Blair's public standing. Like Blair, Brown has pledged to maintain Britain's responsibilities in Iraq but withdraw British troops as soon as feasible, with some coming out possibly as early as later this year.

"He was in full support of it, and I cannot see any reason why things would change," Roger Mortimore, a political analyst with the Ipsos MORI polling firm here, said of Brown's stand of Iraq.

The transfer of power from Blair to Brown was without high drama but wrapped in ritual peculiar to Britain's parliamentary form of democracy with a sitting monarch.

Brown, 56, went to Buckingham Palace at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II for her command to him to form a new government. He met with the queen for about 40 minutes.

Afterward, he pledged "a new government with new priorities." He plans to name his Cabinet on Thursday. He vowed to do his "utmost" for the British people and promised "change to protect and extend the British way of life," with the goal of making Britain "the great global success story of this century."

Brown's trip to the palace followed one by Blair, 54, to hand her his resignation in a 25-minute meeting.

Before going to the palace to resign, Blair went to his last weekly session in Parliament to answer members' questions during the noon hour.

BLAIR PAYS TRIBUTE TO ARMED FORCES

In his farewell session, Blair paid tribute to Britain's armed forces and said he was "truly sorry about the dangers they face in Iraq." However, he said, their bravery was not in vain, but to thwart forces that "would destroy our way of life."

"I wish everyone, friend or foe, well," Blair said to a standing ovation before leaving for the palace to resign. "And that is that. The end."

Earlier in the day, Blair and his wife, Cherie, moved out of Downing Street, where chief ministers live and work off of Whitehall Street that leads to Parliament.

Brown won't have far to move. He and his family already live in the private quarters at No. 10 Downing, the prime minister's residence. The Browns and Blairs had switched Downing Street rooms so that the larger Blair family could live at No. 11 that was Brown's official residence.

After leaving Buckingham Palace in the early afternoon, Blair and his wife waved to well-wishers and headed to his constituency in northern England, where he was to resign his parliamentary seat.

LABOR PARTY HANDS REINS TO BROWN

Brown's ascension to prime minister was cinched on Sunday, when his Labor Party, which holds the majority of seats in Parliament, elected him its leader to replace fellow Laborite Blair. Under Britain's parliamentary system, the head of the majority party becomes prime minister. The Labor Party has won the most seats in the last three parliamentary elections.

Brown has up to three years in office. He must call for new parliamentary elections no later than early in 2010, after Labor won a majority in the last election in May 2005. Elections must occur within five years of the last one.

Brown, the son of a Scottish minister, is private and low-key in comparison to Blair's flashing smile and glib eloquence. He often is portrayed in newspapers here as a dour or brooding Scotsman, who shuns black and white-tie dress at formal occasions in favor of a dark business suit.

Although a political ally of Blair, Brown also has been a rival and involved in policy disputes with Blair. He has sought to be prime minister for the last 10 years.

That was all but assured on May 10, when Blair announced that Wednesday would be his last day as prime minister. Brown faced no challenger to lead the Labor Party.

As chancellor of the exchequer, Brown helped guide Britain to unprecedented prosperity. He was instrumental in keeping the Bank of England independent and keeping the pound rather than switch to the euro. He held inflation down. The economy is projected to expand almost 3 percent this year. The British pound is strong, trading at $2 for the first time in 15 years.

NOT VERY WELL-KNOWN TO BRITONS

Despite leading the nation's economy for 10 years, Mortimore said, Brown is not that well known to Britons because he has kept a low profile and his job as finance minister has been a behind-the-scenes, hands-on job.

"We really don't know that much about him and how he will act and interact with the British public," Mortimore said.

Brown has cast himself as a steady and reliable leader, who has pledged inclusive, clean and business-like governance. Blair's popularity in the last year has also suffered from an investigation into selling lordships and knighthoods for campaign contributions and from complaints he was more spin than substance.

"He's a very different sort of character from Blair," Mortimore said. "But the public is ready to welcome a leader who is quiet, straightforward and honest, and gets on with the job without worrying how much is spin and how much is substance."

Brown enters office with fairly strong public support. In the most recent Ipsos MORI poll published Sunday in The Observer newspaper here, the Labor Party led the main opposition Conservative Party for the first time in seven months in the public's opinion by 39 percent to 36 percent. In it, Brown was seen as the most capable prime minister by 40 percent. That compares to 22 percent for Conservative leader David Cameron.

FAMILIAR FACE IN THE U.S.

Despite Blair's close relationship with President Bush, Brown comes to office with greater familiarity with the United States. He honeymooned with his wife, Sarah, in Cape Cod, Mass., and the couple vacations in the U.S. often. He has often warned against knee-jerk, anti-American sentiment that has grown here as a result of Iraq.

"Gordon loves America and things American," said Graham Allen, a Labor member of parliament who is married to an American and shares Brown's love of the U.S. "He (Brown) is a student of not only U.S. foreign policy but is familiar with domestic policy issues."

Brown is known by many Democrats and met with Bush for the first time in April in Washington.

"Gordon came here and he wasn't the image of the dour Scotsman at all. He was relaxed. It was a good meeting," Bush joked in an interview published Wednesday in The Sun, Britain's most widely circulated newspaper.

Allen predicted that U.S.-Anglo relations will continue to be strong under Brown and doubts that the new prime minister will act precipitously in Iraq.