LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown began a new work week Monday with the cushion of a positive poll as his Conservative Party rivals held their annual conference.

The poll follows a speech by Brown last week to his Labour Party's conference - a performance The Daily Mirror gave the political equivalent of four stars, calling it "the greatest speech of his life." The BBC was also positive, saying Brown had taken the first step toward political recovery.

Less happily, a reviewer in The Times newspaper said Brown's oratory wasn't worth the price of admission, calling it "squirmingly, screamingly, startlingly bad."

But polling after Labour conference seemed to indicate the public was impressed. An ICM poll for The Guardian newspaper published over the weekend showed Brown's Labour Party nine points behind the Tories - compared with 15 points a month earlier. For the poll, ICM questioned 1,012 adults by telephone Wednesday and Thursday.

The opinion poll showed 41 percent favored the Conservatives, a three-point slide from last month, while 32 percent preferred Labour, a three-point gain from last month's numbers. Eighteen percent said they would vote for the Liberal Democrats. The nine point difference between the two leading parties is the lowest since April, the Guardian said.

The positive shift was just within the poll's error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points - meaning it is theoretically possible that Labour gained no ground. Nevertheless, the poll suggested Brown was more secure in his job than a week ago.

It's a rare bright spot for Brown, who has been dealing with failing banks, revolt simmering in his own party's ranks and an electorate worried about a global economic meltdown - and, more immediately, their own mortgages.

"What the voters don't like is the sense that no one is running the ship," said Patrick Dunleavy, a professor of political science at the London School of Economics.

Brown has been criticized for being indecisive, notably a year ago when he dithered about calling a snap election and ultimately decided against it despite high poll ratings.

But he helped to reverse that image last week when his government facilitated a quick takeover of HBOS PLC after the bank's share price plummeted, then announced a temporary ban on short-selling in financial stocks - which some considered a cause of HBOS' woes.

"That is a very top-level thing. It was cleverly done, it was done at the right time, it was done speedily, and it looked decisive," he said.

And on Monday, Brown took care to characterize the nationalization of Bradford & Bingley - another troubled mortgage lender - as a swift move by a government that knows how to handle the economic crisis.

"I think everybody will see that we have taken decisive actions at all times," Brown told reporters.

Experience was a theme Brown hammered home in his speech, arguing that his decade as Treasury chief would allow him to guide Britons through the economic crisis.

"Everyone knows that I'm all in favor of apprenticeships, but let me tell you this is no time for a novice," Brown said.

But some in the City, London's answer to Wall Street, were unimpressed.

"The fact is the markets have written him off and have turned their attention to much more important matters," said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley & Co. stockbrokers in London. "The markets paid scant response to Gordon Brown's speech."

But the ICM poll suggested that things are looking up for Brown.

It put Labour's support at 32 percent, the same level as when Tony Blair stood down as prime minister on June 27, 2007. Respondents weren't as keen when they were asked whether Labour should stick with him as prime minister - 47 percent said stay with Brown, while 44 percent wanted Labour to install someone else.

And when they were asked if they thought Brown could steer the country through difficult times, 40 percent said yes - but 52 percent said no.

However, the poll suggested many Conservative Party backers were less than decided.

Of the respondents who backed the Conservatives, 45 percent said they might switch to another party by the time a national election is held. Among Labour respondents, 32 percent said they might change. The election must be held by May 2010.

Howard Archer, chief British economist for market consultancy Global Insight, said Brown's performance may have stopped the curtain from falling.

"It may have bought him a little more time," Archer said. "But it hasn't changed the way people see the economy in the City."