What will he change. Pro-nuclear, euro-sceptic, never voiced an opinion on major issues.

Will he really come out saying that the Government was wrong all those times. Even "the message was right but the method wrong" won't wash with the British public.

The Labour Party needs a renewal. We shouldn't go back to the 1980's, but equally so we cannot carry on in the way that we are in terms of policy.

Secondly, we can expect the die hard Blairites such as John Reid, Tessa Jowell, John Hutton and Lord Falconer to exit the cabinet under Brown. If they've got any sense they'll unite behind him for the good of the party. A sign of authority transferring to Brown has been the movement of ministers previously seen as close to Blair towards the Brown camp. David Miliband is one example, with his ringing endorsement of Brown in this week's New Statesman. Another, is Jack Straw, while Peter Hain and Hilary Benn have also been shifting ground. All can be expected to remain in a Brown cabinet.

Finally, the meaty stuff, Brown's own political beliefs and policy views. There's actually a reasonably large amount we have learnt about Brown, primarily owing to the large influence on swathes of domestic policy that was ceded to him under the Granita deal.

Foreign Policy: On Iraq i don't think Brown will be in any hurry to bring the troop's back, although the FO and MOD admit privately that British forces could pull out of Iraq in the next year and a half.

Brown will never be seen to question the war itself but may admit that areas such as post-war planning and reconstruction could have been more competently carried out.  

It is well known that he is a commited Atlanticist, nevertheless with Bush still in power for the immediate future
Brown might seek to maintain a similar position to the US but not as has often appeared under Blair, an identical one. Of course Brown would hugely benefit from a Democratic President, New Labour having been directly inspired by the New Democrats.

It is foolish and simply wrong to describe Brown as 'Euro-sceptic' as one poster did. Unlike Eurosceptics Brown is at ease with the concept of pooled sovereignty, he does object to the largesse of the CAP and would like to see more economic reform but such thoughts are more representative of differences within the EU rather than with the EU itself.

Law and Order: Brown has previously mentioned support for ID Cards and backed 90-Day detention in a recent speech.

On the 'Respect' agenda a Brown government may wish to emphasise the introduction of more community facilities just as much as ASBOs.

Defence: We now know that Brown backs the retainment of Britain's nuclear weapons system.

Constitutional Change: Brown would like to see the power to declare war transferred to Parliament and this may be indicative of a wish to present increased accountability.

Public Service Reform: Brown was said to be sceptical of foundation hospitals standing against giving them increased powers to borrow on the private capital markets. He is apparently lukewarm about choice as a driver of improvement.

Conversely, he has few ideological objections to private sector involvement as his strong backing for PFI and support for PPPs demonstrates.

Brown was once apparently reticent on student finance reform but he backed top-up fees in a recent speech.

On public spending Brown envisages a period of belt-tightening over the next economic cycle, as planned smaller increases in public sector wages have shown, with extra resources continuing to be invested in health and education.

Social Policy: Influential Brownites such as Ed Balls and Ed Miliband have recently been talking up a  renewed
drive against child poverty in the future and this fits in well with Brown's long held political passions. One proposal has been the development of a 'Make Child Poverty History' campaign.

Attempts to do so though are likely to be carried out through the means of increased tax credits, the fleshing out of Sure Start and so on. A Brown government will stick to the New Labour text book and will not raise the basic or top rate of income tax.

Government style: The words 'quietly competent' are often mentioned in this area, with the aim of a less flashy style of government. With a figure such as Alistair Darling likely to become Chancellor this may not be too difficult to achieve in practice.

Lastly, Brown as the co-creator of New Labour is unlikely to row back from a basically centrist, modernising position, we will see shifts of emphasis yes but no fundamental split with the Blair era. Although we are promised Brown has plenty of surprises along the lines of Bank of England independence up his sleeve for his first 100 days.