Gordon Brown pledges cautious Budget on his world tour

GORDON BROWN'S G20 world tour was overshadowed today by squabbling between allies and a final retreat from a big-spending Budget.

The Prime Minister used interviews to abandon his hope for the G20 to agree a huge global cash injection that would be followed by a second fiscal stimulus in Alistair Darling's spring Budget.

He emphasised he would be "cautious" with public finances, limiting his ambition to "targeted" measures on crisis points in the economy such as the mortgage market.

Mr Brown continued his 17,500-mile, three-continent trip to Chile for talks with President Michelle Bachelet on plans for a sweeping reform of the world's financial regulation system.

However, his efforts to forge a consensus during stops in Strasbourg, New York and Brazil have been dogged by divisions and recriminations.

In Brazil he was upstaged when host President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched a tirade against "white, blue eyed people" responsible for the banking crisis.

A slightly flustered Mr Brown glossed over the comments and insisted later they had enjoyed a "very productive meeting". He added: "He is a man of strong words and you obviously expect controversy when President Lula is explaining and debating."

Meanwhile, another leader heading for the summit, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, described Barack Obama as "suntanned". He defended the remark about the first black US president as a harmless joke.

In interviews today, Mr Brown said the G20 nations had already made historic achievements despite a split between President Obama and European leaders over a cash injection.

"A few months ago nobody could have imagined co-ordinated action on interest rates and stimulus for the economy," he said.

Some $2.5trillion (£1.7trillion) was being pumped into the world's economies, said Mr Brown. But he was questioned about Bank of England governor Mervyn King's warning that Britain could not afford to rush into another tax-cutting or high-spending Budget financed by borrowing.

The Prime Minister's response saw him fall into line with the governor's caution. "I think what Mervyn King was saying is what I have always said, you have got to be cautious about everything. He said a targeted set of actions may be necessary. That could include action on mortgages, climate change and low carbon recovery, public works and investment.

He added: "We have got to get the economy moving, but you have got to have sustainable finances. We must not rule out action necessary for jobs and growth."