British prime minister Gordon Brown today denied a shift in foreign policy away from the United States.
Brown has denied a shift away from US foreign policy. Image: John Sitwell/ PA.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, in a speech in Washington yesterday, said although Britain stood beside the United States in fighting terrorism, isolationism did not work in an interdependent world.
"In the 20th century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st, strength should be measured by what we can build together," Mr Alexander said, in comments interpreted by British media as signalling a change in the government's relationship with Washington.
But a spokesman for Mr Brown denied the speech marked any turnaround in policy and said the interpretation put on Mr Alexander's words by the media was "quite extraordinary".
Mr Brown told BBC radio he would continue to work closely with the US administration.
"We'll not allow people to separate us from the United States of America in dealing with the common challenges we face around the world," he said, when asked about Mr Alexander's words.
Mr Brown took over last month with promises of change to woo back voters after 10 years of his Labour Party's rule, and in particular to draw a line under the unpopular Iraq war. Mr Blair's closeness to Washington was unpopular with many Britons.