UK not just bridge to US - Brown

'Britishness' is set to be a theme of the chancellor's Budget

The UK is more than just a bridge between Europe and the US, Chancellor Gordon Brown has said.

Mr Brown said Britain has values of its own and is not just a device for bringing different people together.

His comments come in a BBC Newsnight film as he prepares to make Britishness a theme in Wednesday's Budget.

They come despite Tony Blair saying in 2001: "This idea of Britain as a bridge between Europe and the USA, pulling the two together... is important for us."

'Shared purpose'

Mr Brown spoke of Britain's destiny as a nation but denied he was setting out his platform as a Scot wanting to be prime minister after devolution.

He stuck to his usual stance, saying: "What you do in the job you're in is more important than the job you hold."

Mr Brown said the theme of his Budget would be that "a sense of shared purpose... an idea of what your destiny as a nation is" was vital for tackling the challenges ahead.

I think the days of Britain having to apologise for our history are over Gordon Brown Chancellor Brown seeks out 'British values'

The film is likely to prompt further questions about whether or not Mr Brown would pursue a different kind of foreign policy, particularly towards the US.

He said: "We're more than a bridge between Europe and the United States. "The definition of a bridge is it links two different points. And if all you do is link them together then you're certainly performing a good diplomatic role.

"But we stand for more than simply bringing people together. We have values of our own."

'Too simple'

Labour embraced a "Cool Britannia" image to talk about arts and music during the early years of Tony Blair's government but Mr Brown appeared dismissive of the idea.

He said: "What I think is that none of these things from Harold Macmillan to Harold Wilson to Margaret Thatcher to the 'Cool Britannia' accurately sum up the richness and the complexity of what it is to be British."

The chancellor wants teaching of history in schools made compulsory until the age of 16.

He said: "I think the days of Britain having to apologise for our history are over. I think we should move forward."

Sense of humour

The film about Mr Brown's ideas of Britishness comes after ex-home secretary David Blunkett said the distinctive English sense of humour should be used to re-assert national identity.

Mr Blunkett told BBC News a sense of Englishness could play a major role in attitudes to immigration.

"If people have a... sense of identity, if they are strong in where they come from, they are much better at welcoming people into their country," he said.

That attitude was shown in Scotland's welcome to inward migration, suggested Mr Blunkett.