British politics moves to Davos
Friday, 30 January 2009 12:00 AM
By Ian Dunt
British politics appears to have slipped over to Switzerland for the weekend, with the Davos summit attracting argument and drama.
Gordon Brown called for global unity in the face of the financial crisis in a press conference with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon this morning.
He was briefly interrupted when a mobile phone went off, which eventually transpired to be his own.
Journalists laughed at that, but when one reporter asked him who it was calling, he smiled and refused to answer.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has not appeared at the summit. Initially, the Treasury had stated he would be attending, but both he and foreign secretary David Miliband confirmed last night they would not be making the trip.
Their absence did not stop the prime minister from launching into a strong defence of free trade.
"This, if we do nothing, will lead to a new form of protectionism, a retreat of globalisation and a reduction of trade and cross-border activity which will be followed quickly by the old trade protectionism of the past," he said.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader David Cameron made a speech at the summit which focused on the prime minister's failings.
"We made mistakes in the UK," he said.
"It would be wonderful to have more from leaders in the following short sentence: 'I got it wrong'."
He continued: "The challenge of leadership in a crisis if we win the next election is going to be huge. What is required is a dose of realism, combined with a very big dose of hope."
Over the weekend, the Tory leader will be speaking to business leaders about 'compassionate capitalism'.
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