Gordon Brown has for the first time been forced to address questions about his leadership, insisting that he has no intention of quitting in the face of internal sniping and media criticism.

Pressed three times in a Sky News interview about his future, he finally said: “I’m starting a job that I mean to continue.”

Speaking ahead of his visit to the US this week, the Prime Minister said the so-called special relationship would outlive President Bush’s tenure in the White House.

“The co-operation between our two countries arises not just because we work together on specific issues, but because we share the same values,” he said.

Mr Brown would not be drawn on his views of the US presidential candidates, saying only that he was looking forward to meeting them. “It’s a decision for the American people,” he said

Speaking after a summit with bank chiefs, Mr Brown insited he understood the financial difficulties facing families after criticism from Labour MPs that he sometimes appears out of touch.

After meeting bank leaders to urge them to pass on rate cuts to their customers, the Prime Minister said he was determined to make the right “long-term” decisions for the country rather than those that brought short-term popularity. “What people would not thank me for is taking the wrong long-term decisions,” he said. "The right long-term decisions are to keep inflation low and keep interest rates low."

Downing Street said Mr Brown and the bank chiefs discussed the “next steps” in securing the financial system amid evidence of a sharp slump in property prices. He wants to take measures to encourage banks to start lending to each other again by pouring more liquidity into the market. Lenders will be able to use lower-rated securities as collateral for loans from the Bank of England.

The Government is also under pressure to help people to deal with rising costs of key commodities, such as food and fuel There was slightly better news for Mr Brown when inflation figures showed that the official rate held steady at 2.5 per cent last month rather than rising as many had expected.

David Cameron, meanwhile, launched a searing attack on the Prime Minister for being “arrogant” and “out of touch”. The Conversative Party leader said that the Government had wasted money “on a gargantuan scale” in the past decade, when it should have been preparing for leaner times

Mr Brown met bosses from Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland during a 90-minute summit. Mr Brown has emphasised that keeping the economy on track is his "sole focus".

No 10 said the talks were not a crisis summit and had been in the Prime Minister's diary for some time. The Prime Minister had "welcomed the opportunity" to talk to a wide range of financiers about the situation, with further discussions set over the coming days.

A spokesman said the financial system was being backed by the Bank of England putting an extra £15 billion liquidity into the markets, taking its recent total to more than £50 billion.

"We have been working with the Governor of the Bank of England for some time on further proposals to support the financial system and help the functioning of the money markets," he said.

"In particular to help those segments of the market that have been most affected, building on the consultation on medium-term reforms to the banking system which we published in January."

The talks come as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that its members had their gloomiest view of the property market since its survey began in 1978. The proportion of surveyors claiming prices are falling hit a new high during the month, with 78.5 per cent more saying the value of property had dropped than those who reported a rise, it added.

Mr Brown said that the Government would do everything in its power to help ordinary people. “I’m not complacent and I will always be vigilant,” he said. “I wake up in the morning thinking what can we do to help homeowners to help those people who have got small businesses, people looking for jobs, people wanting opportunities so they can have better jobs for the future.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure we’re on the side of ordinary hard-working families who need a government on their side.”

Asked about grumblings within the Labour ranks about his leadership, the Prime Minister, said: “I’m a person who has set the Labour Party on a course of making the long-term decisions for the future of our country.

“Of course when we have an economic downturn affecting Britain, people will immediately start asking what more the Government could have done. I think we now are taking the actions that are necessary, we are looking at further measures to help people in this difficult situation.

“I’ve been through these economic difficulties before and I think eventually people do see you are trying to do the right things by them."

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