Brown wins praise for response to attacks

London: Gordon Brown's response as Britain's new prime minister to the latest wave of terrorist attacks to hit the country won praise yesterday from opposition parties and civil rights campaigners alike.

The serious-minded Scotsman made a brief statement on Saturday, shortly after two men slammed a jeep into an airport terminal in Scotland and barely 36 hours after two car bombs packed with fuel and nails were defused in London.

There were no snappy soundbites from Brown. He gave a brief statement from Downing Street urging vigilance and followed up with a lengthier interview on television yesterday.

Taking over from Tony Blair on Wednesday, Brown had pledged to end the politics of celebrity, where style came before substance and presentation was a substitute for policy - criticisms often levelled at Blair.

Brown called on Britons to be vigilant, praised the security services and put the Al Qaida movement in a broad, international context, stressing it was a long-term, sustained threat that would not intimidate the country.

"Within hours of these events unfolding, I detect a measured tone which I think is a good thing," said Nick Clegg, home affairs spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats.

"[It] certainly is a significant departure from the somewhat breathless way in which Tony Blair used to always rush to try and make, frankly, political points on the back of these events," Clegg told Sky News television.

Respected human rights and civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti said: "Credit to Brown. [In] his first serious outing yesterday, he addressed the nation, briefly, calmly, no cracking voice, no emotive statements, no lip quivering," she said.