Britain's Brown praises Obama before US election

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown voiced support on Wednesday for US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying he would help Americans struggling with an economic downturn.

In a move seen by some British media as a break with a political convention requiring foreign leaders to remain neutral ahead of US elections, Brown praised Obama as a fellow "progressive politician" who would help ordinary Americans in tough times.

With eight weeks to go before the presidental election, Obama and his Republican rival John McCain are neck-and-neck in domestic opinion polls.

Brown described the race for the White House as "electrifying" and said: "It is the Democrats who are generating the ideas to help people through more difficult times."

"To help prevent people from losing their home, Barack Obama has proposed a Foreclosure Prevention Fund to increase emergency pre-foreclosure counselling, and help families facing repossession," he wrote in an article in The Monitor magazine, a monthly political publication.

Asked whether the prime minster's comments were a sign that he favoured Obama over McCain, a spokesman for Brown said: "The prime minister is not endorsing a candidate in the US presidential elections and never would."

The spokesman noted that Brown had also used the article to praise left-of-centre governments in Australia and New Zealand, saying they were working hard to protect the vulnerable in their societies from the effects of the global credit squeeze.

A BBC poll of 22 countries around the world today showed that all would prefer to see Obama elected US president ahead of McCain. In 17 of the 22, people expect relations between the United States and the rest of the world to improve if Obama wins.