Denial of the UK being 'too scared to say boo' to the US

Gordon Brown has indicated that he would follow the same lines of foreign policy as Tony Blair if he became Prime Minister.

Speaking on the Politics Show, he said "We are engaged in probably, one of the most difficult fights since the second world war... Now, it would be wrong in my view for us not to say that we stand solidly with America, in fighting this war against terrorist violence and militant extremism that threatens, for example, to abolish the State of Israel, threatens also of course a terrorist war against all the cities of the world, and I think people should get this in its proper perspective."

He also expressed support for the government's policy in the Middle East, on which he said he had been working closely with Tony Blair.

"Tony Blair and I have been working with him on this, are determined that the root cause of what led to the violence both in Palestine and Israel and then in Lebanon, is a failure to get to a Middle East settlement between Palestine, the Palestinian authority and Israel," he said.

However, speaking in New York, where he was attending the Clinton Global Initiative, Mr Brown denied that what he called the "very special" relationship with the US means the UK is "scared to say boo".

"I don't think that is true, of course, because I've just mentioned Guantanamo Bay where we've been pretty outspoken and of course now President Bush has agreed that Guantanamo Bay should over time be closed," Mr Brown told the Politics Show.

"We've also been pretty clear about what happened in the initial stages of the reconstruction of Iraq."

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