Gordon Brown pledges to do "whatever is necessary"

Sep 30 2008

Gordon Brown pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to protect Britain’s financial system after the collapse of a crucial 700bn US dollar bank bail-out.

The Prime Minister said the dramatic failure of President George Bush’s rescue plan was “very disappointing”, but insisted the Government here was taking “decisive action” to tackle problems.

Speaking in Downing Street last night, Mr Brown refused to say whether he thought any more UK financial institutions would be threatened by events in the US.

“The vote in America is very disappointing,” he said. “The Governor of the Bank of England, the Chancellor and I will take whatever action necessary to ensure continued stability for Britain.

“The stability of our system is something that we are doing everything in our power to maintain.”

Mr Brown pointed to the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley’s mortgage book as evidence that he was taking “decisive action” to protect the public.

“We have taken decisive action in the last few days and that decisive action has continued over the weekend,” he said.

“We are doing everything to maintain the security of families and citizens in this country.”

Meanwhile, David Cameron - in Birmingham for the Tory conference - said the main parties in Britain should “learn lessons” from the collapse of the US deal.

“Clearly the eyes of the world are on Congress and a deal is needed in order to stabilise financial markets not just in America but elsewhere,” Mr Cameron said.

“What is needed is for parties to work together and there may be lessons for us back home.

“We are a responsible opposition, we stand ready to work with the Government and help the Government in any way that is necessary to bring stability at what is a time of great anxiety.”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he was writing to Mr Brown and Mr Cameron offering full cross-party talks on how to deal with the crisis.

“We must do everything to prevent the events in the US Congress leading to a downward spiral of market panic and widespread bank failure,” Mr Clegg said.

“This would pose the greatest challenge to Britain and the world in decades.

“That’s why I believe these exceptional times require a suspension of normal political hostilities and a rapid move towards a cross-party consensus on how we might prepare for the worst-case scenario.”