Gordon Brown and Archbishop of Canterbury clash

As public sector finances deteriorated sharply in November with the level of borrowing soaring to an all time high, Gordon Brown and Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday clashed over the use of borrowing to resolve the financial crisis. The Archbishop said the credit crunch was a ‘sort of’ reality check for a society that had become driven by unsustainable greed and likened the government’s plans to boost spending as returning an ‘addict to the drug’. He added that the country had been going in the wrong direction for decades by relying on financial speculation to generate wealth quickly, and needed to rethink they way it viewed material gain. In response the prime minister said ‘we should not walk by on the other side when people are facing problems’ and said the government’s fiscal policy was designed to give real help to families and businesses now.