Gordon Brown was urged by ministers yesterday to change his style and seek voters’ respect for getting the job done, rather than court popularity.

Tessa Jowell, one of Tony Blair’s closest allies, called on the Prime Minister to be “authentic”, true to himself and to Labour’s values, saying that there was no quick fix to restore his Government’s battered standing after a series of setbacks.

Her comments came as Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and Mr Brown’s most experienced minister, gave warning that David Cameron’s messages had been “resonating” with voters.

But there was good news for Mr Brown as an opinion poll showed that Mr Cameron’s lead had slipped from thirteen to five points. The Conservatives were down to 40 per cent, from a high of 45 per cent a fortnight ago, and Labour up from 32 to 35 per cent in The Sunday Times/ YouGov poll. The Liberal Democrats were up a point at 15 per cent.

Another prominent Blairite, the former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers, also made a public declaration of loyalty to Mr Brown, ending speculation that he and others might mount a backbench campaign for more radical and reformist policies.

Ms Jowell, who attends Cabinet as Minister for the Olympics, appealed to Mr Brown to return in the new year with a style of governing that showed his human side and demonstrated that he was in touch with the everyday concerns of the electorate.

“The most important thing for any prime minister is to be authentic and to be yourself and I think Gordon Brown should feel complete freedom to be himself, and that is how the British people will get to know him,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.

“What people want in modern leaders is to know them, not necessarily to like them [or] to feel that they want to go on holiday with them, but to know them.” By way of example she pointed to Ken Livingstone, saying: “Love him or loathe him, people know who Ken is.”

Ms Jowell added: “We have to relate much more to the core values, to the attitudes people have about the things that matter to their own private worlds. You have to stand firm and you have to be confident.

“Confidence is born of making decisions with care, taking people with you, believing that you have exercised the best judgment on the basis of the best available advice and taking a decision that you believe is consistent with the values and beliefs that you hold.”

The comments by Ms Jowell, who has urged ministers in the past to show more “emotional intelligence” and to understand the concerns of people who feel threatened by change, are an unusually frank assessment of how Mr Brown needs to connect better with voters. Mr Straw echoed her call for the Government to show people that ministers were making decisions relevant to them and their futures, saying that they must not rest on the laurels of past achievements.

His admission that Mr Cameron is resonating with voters is in contrast with previous Labour attacks on the Conservative leader, whom the party has portrayed as a public relations man with style but no substance.

In his own new year message, Mr Brown appeared to hint that he may delay a general election until 2010, as he spoke of making the right decisions “not only this year but for the years ahead” and gave warning of a difficult year of global financial turbulence approaching.

The intervention from Mr Byers appeared to be an olive branch intended to end speculation that he and other Blairites were ready to mount a campaign of opposition to Mr Brown if he backed away from key new Labour policies. Writing in The Observer, Mr Byers made a pledge of support to Mr Brown, but said that Labour needed to value its ordinary members more and continue to appeal to “promiscuous” voters, remaining the party of ambition and aspiration as well as of social justice and fairness.

There was also a warning for Mr Cameron from Michael Howard, his predecessor as Conservative leader, who said that it would become harder for the Tories to maintain their comfortable poll lead. Mr Howard told the BBC: “It’s not going to be altogether easy for him to keep the momentum for two years or more.”

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