Brown urges US to take lead

Gordon Brown. Photo / AP

WASHINGTON - Gordon Brown warned that the world stood at a "defining moment of history" as he appealed for United States political leaders to help drive the international economy out of recession and to protect an "imperilled" planet from global warming.

The Prime Minister delivered a stark warning to the American political classes not to retreat into protectionism, insisting that 20 years of prosperity could be the prize for rebuilding the global economy.

In a 32-minute address to the US Congress, he compared the financial crisis to the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II, and said the time had come to kickstart the world's financial system.

And he called on the US to take the lead in combating climate change: "You, the nation that had the vision to put a man on the moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet Earth."

Brown, only the fifth prime minister to address the two houses of Congress, was cheered as he entered the packed chamber and won 19 standing ovations - the same given to Tony Blair when he spoke to Congress shortly after the invasion of Iraq six years ago. Brown's warning against protectionism, however, was heard in silence.

In deference to his audience, the Prime Minister did not repeat his frequent charge that the seeds of the global meltdown had been sown in the United States.

But he made clear his fear that the nation could be tempted to look inwards - with disastrous consequences for the international economy - as the crisis deepened. "Should we succumb to a race to the bottom and a protectionism that history tells us that in the end, protects no one? No," he said.

"We should have the confidence - America and Britain most of all - that we can see the opportunities ahead and make the future work for us."

The Prime Minister, who had talks with President Barack Obama, insisted that the warmest relations between the US and pro-American EU leaders in "living memory" provided an unprecedented chance for the world to come together.

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