By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Brown took the flak that Blair avoided

Despite putting on his best trade union clothes, pressing all the right buttons and even hinting he was the true heir of late Labour leader John Smith, he got only the politest of receptions from the TUC conference.

His jokes fell flat, there was no spontaneous applause interrupting the speech and there was no ovation.

Indeed, when he finished, what applause there was died away almost before he found his chair and sat down.

Short changed

Make no mistake. The brothers are in a bad mood.

They are fed up with being lectured by Tony Blair over their alleged conservatism when it comes to his radical vision for public sector reform.

Union members are in fighting mood

They are fed up with being treated like the poor relations who embarrass you by turning up to your exclusive party fighting drunk.

And, most importantly of all, they are clearly fed up with being, in their view, short changed, sold-out, betrayed by "their" government.

And not even their Gordy could snap them out of their brooding resentment. Instead they took their anger out on him.

Certainly the chancellor brought a tough message with him.

He told the delegates that he would not allow inflation-busting pay demands or union militancy to wreck his hard-won economic stability.

Crowd pleaser

But he leavened it with pledges of full employment, co-operation and growing prosperity.

And, after carefully keeping his head down throughout the bitter row over Iraq, he deliberately refused to poke a stick into that particular cage.

There was even what many saw as a little snipe at Tony Blair - nowadays a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

The chancellor praised the prime minister for introducing the minimum wage but immediately went on to remind the delegates it had been John Smith's pledge.

The implication was clear. The prime minister only went through with it because his much-admired predecessor had promised it would be the first act of a Labour government.

Mr Brown must have known that he was saying things the conference was in no mood to hear.

But if he is ever going to be prime minister he knows he can't paint himself into a pro-union corner.

And he may not have expected the sort of hero's welcome he often gets from union gatherings.

Cold shoulder

But even so it is likely he will have been taken aback by the reaction.

The only silver lining from his point of view is that it would undoubtedly have been much worse had it been Tony Blair making the speech.

This conference does not normally monster its speakers. Even CBI boss Digby Jones was given a polite, boo-free reception earlier in the day.

But last year delegates showed their feelings by giving the prime minister the cold shoulder. This year it was the Chancellor's turn.

And no amount of old Labour rhetoric about the dignity of labour, workers' rights and government-union partnerships could stop that.