Gordon Brown to Congress: “Seize the moment – let us restore prosperity and together build tomorrow, today”

From LabourList

10pm – NEW UPDATE:

Many thanks to Michael Haddon, who used Wordle to put this excellent wordcloud together for us. Click on the image to enlarge.

Read the full transcript of the speech here.

William Hague on the PM: “Fine words.”

Republican Rep. Bob Inglis: “Inspiring speech”

American Congressmen and women and Senators were Twittering, too! Here are some highlights:

MarkWarner: PM Brown talked about working together to tackle climate change and the global economic crisis. He gave a strong speech.

Rob Witmann: I am hopeful that we can build upon the PMs thought that we must pursue new technologies that makle us more energy efficient.

Rob Witmann: I agree with prime minister in that we must address job creation and stimulus worldwide and that other nations should share in the effort.

RepPerlmutter: He is saying we should educate and innovate to race to the top. I am impressed by his remarks.

Repblumenauer: Gordon Brown goes off his script to cite a powerful story about African child tortured to death. Great impact here.

Read more as they come in here.

Adam Boulton called it “one of the best delivered speeches Gordon Brown has made”.

Here are some of the immediate responses at the Twitter Hashtag #brownintheusa.

mattbryant: has set the tone for G20 – “When the strong help the weak, it makes us all stronger” Brilliant language, brilliant delivery.

saminus: “we have learnt through this downturn that markets should be free… but markets should never be values free” Good line.

NatchGreyes: very positive rhetoric, more powerful than Obama’s, in my opinion

davidjstringer: Brown’s speech is really pretty good

Jessica_Asato: crikey speech of his life!

mattcooke2012: Awesome and moving on Rwanda and responsibilities to the developing world

NatchGreyes: the speech was good until Africa, I appreciate what he wants to do but certain Republican Congressmen aren’t going to pay

auntie_mabel: Rather good speech

lukewaterfield: thinks GB smacked it…

Jessica_Asato: better than his Party Conference speech I think.

david_taylor: 19 standing ovations, according to Kay Burley.

4.40pm – Working together there is no challenge to which we’re not equal. In the depths of the depression, when FDR did battle with fear itself, it was not simply by his example that he triumphed – what mattered more was the enduring truth that people remain hopeful – that’s the promise of America. So let us renew our speical relationship for our times, to restore prosperity and protect this planet and with faith in the future, let us together build tomorrow, today.

4.40pm – Wherever there is suffering, we will never pass by on the other side.

4.38pm – Let us remember there is a common bond that unites us as human beings. It’s at the core of my convictions and the heart of our faith and it must be at the centre of our reponse to this crisis. When the strong help the weak, it makes us all stronger. All of us know that in a recession, the most privileged can find a way through, so we don’t value the wealthy less when we say our first duty is to help the not-wealthy – our first priority must be to help the inscure.

4.38pm – More and more children are being lured to madrassas teaching innocent children to hate us, so for these children’s future and our security, the greatest gift we can give, the gift of America and Britain can have the chance to go to school and perhaps learn of a great generation striving to make their freedom real.

4.37pm – Name: David / Dream: To become a doctor / Last words: The UN will come for us.

4.36pm – Let us never forget in times of turmoil, our duty to the poorest in the world.

4.36pm – Let us together renew our international economic cooperation, let us sign a world trade agreement to expand commerce – I am confident that the peoples of the world can come together to reach an historic agreement to combat climate change

4.35pm – Ours is a time for renewal, for building for the future: a global new deal, a plan for prosperity for us all, serving our prosperity rather than risking it – an end to excesses applying to every bank, everywhere, all of the time.

4.34pm – All, and not just some, banks stabilised. Rising demand in all our countries creating jobs in each of our countries – the wealth of nations restored.

4.43pm – We should seize this moment – never before have I seen a world so willing to come together – so when people ask, what more can we do – we can achieve more by working together, in a new partnweship for prosperity. We in Britain are acting – but how much nearer to an end to this downturn would we all be, but how much nearer would we be, if the whole world came together to outlaw shadow banking systems and outlaw offshore tax havens?

4.31pm – European leadership wants to cooperate more closely together. There is no old or new Europe – there is only your friend Europe.

4.30pm – The major challenges we face a global. Climate change does not honour passport control – the new frontier is that there is no frontier. Global problems now need global solutions.

4.30pm – The lesson of this crisis is that we cannot just wait for tomorrow – we have to build for tomorrow, today.

4.30pm – It’s only by investing that we can end the dictatorship of oil

4.30pm – You are the nation to protect and preserve our planet Earth.

4.30pm – I say to this country, something that is woven in your history: we conquer our fear of the future through our faith in the future. We must commit to protecting the planet.

4.28pm – We should have the confidence that we can make the future work for us – but over the next two decades, people will move from being producers of their goods to being consumers of our goods and in this way the world economy will double in size. We win our future, not by retreating from the world, but by engaging with it. We will win the race to the top if we can develop the new green goods that people want to buy. So in these times, we must educate our way out of the downturn, retool and reskills our way out of the downturn – this is the practical affirmation for our times of a faith in a better future.

4.46pm – A bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere

Defining moments of history come suddenly without warning – an economic huuricane has swept the world. History has brought us to a point where change is essential. Our task is to rebuild prosperity and security in a wholly different economic world, where banks are no longer national but international.

4.25pm – Riches must enrich not just some, but all of our comunities – these enduring values are the ones we need for our time

4.25 – What makes for the good society, makes for the good economy

4.24pm – Principles that guide and govern our economic life

4.23pm – We cannot and must not stand aside

4.23pm – We have learned that markets should be free, but markets should never be values free – we’ve learned that risk should never be separated from responsibilities

4.22pm – I come to talk of new and different battles we must also fight together – new priorities for our new times. Too many parents will speak of their worries about losing their jobs; too many will share stories of friends packing up their homes; for me, this recession is not to be measured in graphs or stats, instead I see one individual with one set of dreams, then another and another, each at the heart of a community of help and hope – and we the representatives of the people have to be the last line of defence

4.21pm – A message to Iran, we are ready for you to rejoin the international community, but first you must suspend your nuclear programme

4.20pm – A two state solution that provides for nothing less than a secure Israel existing side by side with a Palestinian state

4.20pm – Our friendship is unshakable…there is no power on earth that can ever drive us apart

4.20pm – So let it be said of the friendship – formed and forged over two centuries, testened in war, strengthened in peace, that it’s renewed to fulfil the hopes and dreams of the day – A PARTNERSHIP OF PURPOSE

4.19pm – We will enusre there is no safe haven for terrorists – they have not and will not destory the Americdan spirit.

4.18pm – We wept for our friends in the land of the free

4.18pm – Whenever a young American solider is killed in conflict, we the people of Britain greive with you. Your nation’s determination is our nation’s determination that they shall not have died in vein

4.17pm – [So far, this is a very, very good speech]

4.16pm – In the hardest days of the last centruy faith kept America alive and faith in America kept the future alive

4.16pm – [David Talyor on Twitter says Gordon is doing well.]

4.15pm – America is not just the indispensable nation, you are the irrepressable nation – I want to thank you on behlaf of the British people

4.14pm – The Berlin wall was torn down, brick by brick

4.14pm – A special relationship founded on our shared values

4.14pm – Sir Edward Kennedy

4.14pm – Northern Ireland today is at peace…we owe a great debt to the life and courage of Sentor Edward Kennedy (who will receive an honorary Knighthood)

4.12pm – I thank President Obama for his leadership and friendship and for giving the world renewed hope.

4.12pm – Transition of dignity in which both sides of the aisle should take great pride.

4.10pm – I come to this great capital, to say that America’s faith in the future always will be an inspiration to me and to the whole world.

BEGIN

4.10pm – CNN: we’re expecting a lot about the economy, if the applause ever stops!

4.06pm – Joe Biden introduces the PM, who enters with Dick Durbin. Much handshaking and applause, smiles and flashbulbs.

4.04pm – There’s a Twitter #Tag here.

4pm – LabourList’s live blogs on speeches in America always seem to start late! Remember the Inauguration? But there’s movement now – something’s happening…

4pm – It’s like a football match – there are still a lot of empty seats, but you know they’ll be filled by the time the teams come out.

3.55pm – Gordon is announced by Vice President Joe Biden and escorted into the chamber by a list of Senators as long as your arm. Apparently, they’ll enter the chamber through the doors!

3.49pm – Coffee, check; laptop, check; connection to speech…er…

3:00pm – John Prescott has replied to your comments, here.

3:07pm – Power cut at LabourList means we have to blog the speech from somewhere else – pub maybe?

4pm – Speech due to begin

Gordon Brown is due to speak to a Joint Session of Congress in Washington, DC at 4pm this afternoon (GMT). He will be only the fifth British Prime Minsiter ever bestowed the honour, after Winston Churchill, Clem Atlee, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. The opportunity is in recognition of the Prime Minister’s leadership of the global economy during the downturn.

Last night, it was also announced that Gordon Brown will be named World Statesman of the Year by a US foundation dedicated to promoting peace, human rights and understanding between religious faiths, for his “key intellectual and compassionate leadership in these critical times”.

LabourList will be live blogging the speech from 4pm this afternoon.