Brown emerges from wilderness to call for global financial strategy

Friday, 24 September 2010 12:00 AM

By Peter Wozniak

Ex-prime minister Gordon Brown has used his first major speech since leaving office to call for worldwide co-operation in financial regulation, and to subtly denigrate the coalition's economic strategy.

Mr Brown, speaking at Harvard University, where he is a visiting fellow, urged world leaders to set out global rules for regulating banking practice and securing jobs and growth.

Countries which focus on purely national strategies will create a "race to the bottom", he warned, as he emphasised the need for American leadership on crafting the framework of rules to ensure global recovery from recession.

In a passage reminiscent of the election campaign, Mr Brown made a veiled critique of the coalition government's austerity drive.

"There's insufficient evidence that economies are growing strongly enough to take risks with the recovery," he said.

Mr Brown has shied away from any involvement in domestic politics since he left No 10 in May, avoiding the temptation to respond to Tony Blair's memoirs which described him as having "zero emotional intelligence".

It is unclear whether Mr Brown will be attending the Labour conference in Manchester, in time for the announcement of his successor tomorrow.

The race between Ed and David Miliband is expected by analysts to be extremely tight.

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• economy
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• economy and finance
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• world economy