Gordon Brown today made an overtly religious call for a new world order based on the ‘deep moral sense’ shared by all faiths.

Making the first speech by a serving Prime Minister at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Mr Brown quoted from scripture as he said people could come together to forge a new ‘global society’.

The world economy and society should be rebuilt around a Zulu word for hope - themba - which also stands for ‘there must be an alternative’, the Prime Minister suggested.

It was an extraordinary break from his predecessor Tony Blair, whose spin doctor Alastair Campbell, famously declared that ‘we don’t do God’.

At Westminster it was also seen as high risk for a Government mired in allegations of sleaze to put morality and faith at the centre of its political and economic message.

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Colin Brown
The Independent
April 19, 2008

Gordon Brown has called for a “global covenant” in collaborative action between Europe and America in a keynote speech in Boston. Using a lecture at the John F Kennedy presidential library, where he was introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy, the Prime Minister warned of the “terrifying risks” of failing to respond to the need for global co-operation.

The Prime Minister link-ed yesterday’s arrest of a terrorist suspect in Britain with his theme, saying ac-tion was needed across the world to tackle groups using the internet to plan attacks.

Behind the scenes, Mr Brown vented anger at the way his trip has been undermined by disloyalty at home. He had to take time at the White House to persuade Angela Smith not to resign from a junior Treasury post in protest at the abolition of the 10p tax rate.

Brushing aside questions about his mental state, denying he was depressed, he said he felt frustrated that he had not been able to get his message across because of the failure of some ministers to fully explain policy over tax changes he introduced a year ago.

In a vision of the new global village, Mr Brown spoke of a “new dawn” of collaboration between Europe and the next US president.

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