London, Mar 5 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown didn't quite say "I love you America," but he couldn't have been much more effusive about the other partner in the special relationship.

He opened his address to a joint session of Congress with the words "America's faith in the future has been, is and will be an inspiration to me."

Following in the footsteps of British leaders like Winston Churchill and Tony Blair, Brown said his predecessors came in times of war, but the two nations were now confronting a different test - a financial one, Sky News reported.

"I come now to talk of new and different battles we must fight together, to speak of a global economy in crisis and a planet imperilled. An economic hurricane has swept the world, creating a crisis of credit and of confidence."

Brown urged America to work with the rest of the world and in a bold sentiment cautioned the US not to turn in on itself - to avoid the road of introspection and self-interest.

He asked: "Should we succumb to a race to the bottom and protectionism that history tells us that, in the end, protects no-one. No."

Brown words got regular applause, but there was none of the electricity of Tony Blair's moment in Congress. Times and personalities have changed, SKY news said.

And whilst Brown and President Obama share a common crisis, they are not bound intimately in terms of dealing with it in the way Blair and Bush were with the war.

Washington Post Columnist Dana Milbank said: "Brown's visit hasn't really made waves here."

He suspects that is partly because Obama is preoccupied with the financial crisis and in part because the President is pretty sure he already has the goodwill of the rest of the world. (ANI)