Packed cathedral hears two premiers chaired by Bishop of London

31/03/09

The Bishop of London chaired a debate today at St Paul’s Cathedral with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, ahead of the G20. The subject for the debate was "My word is my bond? Rebuilding trust - the G20 and beyond" and the discussion focused on the approach the G20 should be taking on the global recession.

Both Prime Ministers delivered speeches before the event was opened up to questions from the packed St Paul’s audience that addressed issues from climate change to the role of religion in politics.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown conceded that the unsupervised globalisation of the financial markets crossed moral as well as national boundaries. Speaking at St Paul’s Cathedral for a pre-G20 debate organised by the St Paul’s Institute, Mr Brown insisted that "we must (now) reshape our global economic system so that it represents the values we celebrate in our everyday lives."

Members of the public were invited to attend the debate and over 2000 people filled St Paul’s Cathedral. Representatives from many City institutions, charities, universities, colleges and schools were joined by clergy and members of the public. Questions from the audience were put to the panel.
This event was the first in the St Paul's Institute 2009 major programme, Money, Integrity and Wellbeing, which will continue in the autumn with further public debates, services and study days.

The Prime Minister identified four global challenges affecting this generation:

"Financial instability in a world of global capital flows, environmental degradation in a world of changing energy need, violent extremism in a world of mass communications and increased mobility, and extreme poverty in a world of growing inequalities."

Mr Brown said that any response could take advantage of shared values and morals:

"Now that people can communicate instantaneously across borders, cultures and faiths, I believe we can be confident that across the world we are discovering that there is a shared moral sense. It is a sense strong enough to ensure a constant replenishment of that well of values on which we depend and which must infuse our shared rules."

He called for a change in attitudes and approach: "The certainty is that there is always an alternative to fear of the future; and what conquers fear of the future is faith in the future."

On the question of the future of Banking, Mr Brown said that bankers should act as ethically at work as they do at home:

"In our families, we raise our children to work hard and to do their best. We don’t reward them for taking risks that would put them or others in danger. We don’t encourage them to seek short-term gratification at the expense of long-term value."

For a full transcript of the PM's speech click here.

My word is my bond? Rebuilding trust - the G20 and beyond was organised by the St Paul's Institute.

More photos from the debate are available online.