With a final flourish, he took his place in history

"I will build a government that uses all the talents; I will invite men and women of goodwill to contribute their energies in a new spirit of public service to make our nation what it can be." - GORDON BROWN

Story in full WITH a single stroke of his pen late yesterday afternoon, Gordon Brown severed the last tie that bound him to Tony Blair, his friend, foe and now predecessor as Prime Minister.

Following an arcane parliamentary tradition, it fell to Mr Brown, as Prime Minister, to sign the legal document confirming Mr Blair was giving up his seat in the House of Commons, a prelude to his appointment as an international envoy to the Middle East.

The final act in the Blair-Brown drama came on a day of emotion and spectacle remarkable even by the standards of the Westminster passion play.

Within the space of a few hours, Mr Blair, his family and their possessions were physically removed from 10 Downing Street. Then, the new Prime Minister took possession, invoking his old Kirkcaldy High School motto as he promised, "I will try my utmost", and declaring: "Now let the work of change begin."

If the image of one family moving in and another moving out was a stark demonstration of the fates of Labour's two leading figures, their separate set-piece public appearances gave an even more vivid illustration of just how different their governments may prove to be.

In his last appearance at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Blair left many MPs in tears - some of laughter, some of sorrow - and cracked a string of well-timed jokes, before bowing out with the simple valediction: "That is that. The end."

Breaking with tradition, the Commons rose to give the departing PM a lengthy ovation; just as his spin doctors had planned, he left the stage with the applause still ringing out.

If Mr Blair's performance was characteristically slick, Mr Brown preached a message of change that was all substance. In a low-key, businesslike speech on the steps of Downing Street, he promised to be "strong in purpose, steadfast in will, resolute in action in the service of what matters to the British people".

After Labour's decade in office, Mr Brown must persuade voters they can have a change in politics without changing the government. "I have heard the need for change: change in our NHS; change in our schools; change with affordable housing; change to build trust in government; change to protect and extend the British way of life," he said.

The first changes he will make will be in government personnel, announcing a ministerial reshuffle today. With the departure of figures such as John Reid, John Prescott, Hilary Armstrong and Lord Goldsmith, the new Prime Minister has considerable scope to remodel his government. As well as promoting a wave of young stars, he will move around some familiar faces.

Alistair Darling is expected to succeed Mr Brown as chancellor, while Jack Straw could take on responsibility for constitutional reform and citizenship. Among the big losers could be Margaret Beckett, who is set to leave the Foreign Office, possibly to be replaced by David Miliband. Last night, Patricia Hewitt resigned as Health Secretary, claiming she wanted to spend more time on her family and constituents.

Some key posts are likely to be unchanged, notably Des Browne at the Ministry of Defence.

Douglas Alexander, already named as Labour's general election co-ordinator, is likely to leave his jobs as Scottish Secretary and Transport Secretary.

His new job may give a clue as to how quickly Mr Brown will call the next election: if the poll is some years off, Mr Alexander could get the demanding job of running a newly enhanced international development department. But if Mr Brown is serious about an election next year, he could become Commons leader or Cabinet Office minister, allowing him more time to focus on political planning.

But the most eye-catching appointments may come tomorrow, when Mr Brown could appoint figures from outwith Labour to junior ministerial and advisory posts. "This need for change cannot be met by the old politics, so I will reach out beyond narrow party interest," Mr Brown said yesterday.

"I will build a government that uses all the talents; I will invite men and women of goodwill to contribute their energies in a new spirit of public service to make our nation what it can be."

Having shocked the Conservatives by unveiling a defecting MP on Tuesday, Mr Brown could yet spring another surprise, perhaps appointing a moderate Tory figure such as John Bercow to a junior ministerial post.

While Mr Brown's focus yesterday was firmly on domestic matters, there will be huge scrutiny of his foreign policy, especially in Iraq.

His spokesman did little last night to play down Westminster speculation that the new Prime Minister will shortly announce a further reduction in British forces in Iraq, handing the Basra Palace base to Iraqi government forces and leaving the UK with a single base in the country.

Mr Brown's first international call yesterday afternoon was to George Bush, the US president. He then spoke to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president; Angela Merkel, the German chancellor; Romano Prodi, the Italian president, and Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister.

He also spoke to David Cameron, the Tory leader, and Sir Menzies Campbell, of the Liberal Democrats, and is expected to call the leaders of the devolved administrations, including Alex Salmond, sometime today.

APPOINTMENT BRINGS BY-ELECTION

TONY Blair's formal appointment as the international community's new peace envoy to the Middle East yesterday, presents Gordon Brown with what could be the first challenge of his premiership.

The Quartet Group, which comprises the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia, yesterday confirmed that the now former prime minister will serve as its envoy to Israel and the Palestinians. This means an imminent by-election in Mr Blair's Sedgefield constituency.

With the Palestinian territories now bitterly divided by conflict between the Hamas and Fatah groups, Mr Blair's priority will be to "mobilise international assistance to the Palestinians and develop plans to promote Palestinian economic development".

Mr Blair will also seek international support to address the needs of Palestinian government institutions, "focusing as a matter of urgency on the rule of law," said the group.

As soon as his appointment was confirmed, Mr Blair signalled that he will step down as MP for the County Durham seat he has represented since 1983. The by-election could be as early as 19 July, and although Mr Blair last held the seat with an 18,000-vote majority, it will still become a symbolic test of Labour's strength under Mr Brown.

A second by-election, in Ealing and Southall in London, likely the same day, was caused by the death last week of Labour's Piara Khabra.

Change on the agenda (eight times in case you missed it)

BROWN delivered his first speech as PM without notes yesterday, each word carefully chosen to convey a clear message, writes James Kirkup.

If one word defined the brief address, it was "change", repeated eight times to hammer home the idea: Tony Blair has gone and if you were angry with him, don't take it out on my government. "New" was also prominent.

As for the ex-PM, his last speech was humorous and statesmanlike. It also brought the curtain down on the career of the most successful Labour leader ever with five words almost surreal in their succinctness:

"That is that. The end."