Brown vows U.K.-U.S. ties will last

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addresses joint session of Congress. (Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News)

by Frank James

With the U.S. and Britain both buffeted by the global financial and economic meltdown and facing foreign policy challenges like a deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown assured Congress of his nation's steadfast partnership as the two allies tried to solve those problems.

Brown, speaking to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, reminded the lawmakers of the long friendship between the two nations galvanized by past crises like the Second World War and the 9/11 terror attacks and suggested that the current crises would find the two partners once again rising to meet the challenges.

"So let it be said of the friendship between our two countries that it is in times of trial, true; in face of fear, faithful; and amidst the storms of change, constant," Brown said.

Brown, who met with President Barack Obama Tuesday for what was billed as a working meeting between the two leaders, was visiting the U.S. against the backdrop of his own low poll ratings at home, partly caused by apparent British voter fatigue with his Labor Party and his own dour leadership style.

Obama is extremely popular in Britain, however. Brown's visit and speech gave him a chance to associate himself with the well-liked U.S. president.

Speaking of Inauguration Day, Brown said: "... Billions of people surely looked to Washington, D.C. as a shining city upon the hill, lighting up the whole of the world. And let me thank President Obama for his leadership, for his friendship and for giving the whole world renewed hope in itself."

While Brown focused mainly on points of agreement between the two nations, he did warn U.S. policymakers against responding to the economic crisis with protectionist measures.

"But should we succumb to a race to the bottom and to a protectionism that history tells us that it in the end protects no one?," Brown asked rhetorically. "No. We should have the confidence -- America and Britain most of all -- that we can seize the global opportunities ahead and make the future work for us."

At times, Brown sounded like he was encouraging a somewhat demoralized friend to keep the faith in the future despite present adversities.

In a part of his speech that sounded like he was cheerleading for Obama's economic stimulus plan, Brown said the importance of making investments in education and science was that such actions spoke to both nations' faith in times to come.

"Every time we rebuild a school, we demonstrate our faith in the future," Brown said. "Every time we send more people to university, every time we invest more in our new digital infrastructure, every time we increase support for our scientists, we demonstrate our faith in the future."

Again, sounding very much like a member of the Obama Administration, the British prime minister pointed to efforts to create a green economy as a possible path out of the economic doldrums.

"...It's only by investing in environmental technology that we can end the dictatorship of oil," Brown said. "And it's only by tackling climate change that we can create the millions of new green jobs that we need..."

Brown also pitched what he has called his "global new deal," new international arrangements to better regulate the transnational companies, money and credit flows that contributed to the current global economic crisis.

"...How much safer would everybody's savings be if the whole world finally came together to outlaw shadow banking systems and outlaw offshore tax havens?" Brown said.