Brown demands bank inquiry

Mr Brown described the situation at the bank as one of the worst cases of "moral bankruptcy" that he had seen.

He said he wanted the Financial Services Authority – the City watchdog – to launch an immediate inquiry in co-operation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the USA.

The Sunday Times reported that the bank was set to pay out 3.5bn in bonuses to its staff worldwide – including almost 600m to its 5,500 London-based staff – for just three months' work.

The SEC announced last week that it was suing the group over claims that it defrauded investors of one billion US dollars. Goldman Sachs denies the charges.

Interviewed on BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Brown said that the case underlined the need for further reform of the international banking system which, he said, continued to represent a risk to the economy.

"I am shocked at this moral bankruptcy. This is probably one of the worst cases that we have seen," he said.

"It makes me absolutely determined we are going to have a new global constitution for the banking system which I am pressing for, a global financial levy for the banks, and we quash remuneration packages such as Goldman Sachs's.

"If this is proved to be the case they have got to return that money. I cannot allow this to continue.

"Everything I find out convinces me that we have got to go in deeper and I believe that I am the man to deal with these problems of the banks and to challenge them about the way they behave in the future."

FOCUS GOES ON TO DEVELOPING WORLD

Gordon Brown took to a sunlit Methodist churchyard to urge people to fight for justice in the developing world.

The Prime Minister was surrounded by the congregation of Wesley's Chapel in the City of London as he said the "greatest social movements in history" had been built on religious and ethical foundations.

His short speech, delivered without notes, came on the election campaign's designated "development day", when each party focuses on international development.

He told the congregation: "The greatest social movements in history have always been built on the basis of religious and ethical foundations."