The chancellor has promised to "spend what it takes" to protect Britain against international terrorism.

Ahead of his comprehensive spending review next week, where defence and Home Office budgets were thought to be under threat, Gordon Brown pledged to fund fully any necessary measures.

Addressing the British Council on Wednesday, he said the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 had brought home what the government's "first duty" was.

Brown contrasted this stance with that of the Conservatives, who he claims want to cut all state spending.

"Thinking globally in an insecure world - and more important in the world since September 11 - requires us of course to take necessary steps to discharge a British government's first duty - the defence of its citizens, the people of Britain," he said.

"And as we look forward to next week's spending review, I will make available the resources needed to strengthen security at home and take action to counter the terrorist threat at home and abroad.

"Those who wish to cut in real terms the budget even for security will need to answer to the British people. We will spend what it takes on security to safeguard the British people."

BBC

In a wide-ranging lecture on the theme of "Britishness", Brown paid tribute to institutions such as the BBC for the work they do in promoting the UK and the English language around the world.

In a peace offering to the corporation after its row with the government over the last year he said the broadcaster was an asset which summed up the best of Britain.

"Two qualities of British life - the notion of civic duty binding people to one another and the sense of fair play which underpins the idea of a proper social order - come together in the ethic of public service," the chancellor claimed.

"And this gave rise to great British public institutions admired throughout the world - from the National Health Service and our army, navy and air forces to our universities, including the Open University, and the expression of civic purpose and social inclusion in culture and arts - our great national and municipal art galleries, museums and the BBC - not least the BBC World Service and the British Council."

Brown also cast the Labour Party as the modern defender of Britain as a union of all its member nations and multicultural identities.

"Our Labour Party must stand resolute as the party of the Union," he said.

"And indeed all decent minded people should, I believe, stand for and champion a Union that embodies the very values I have been discussing: a Union that, because it reflects shared values, has achieved - and will in future achieve - far more by us working together than we could ever achieve separate and split apart."

And he backed home secretary David Blunkett's vision of a multicultural Britain that could unite under common citizenship without the need for Norman Tebbit-style "cricket tests".