Brown takes ‘full responsibility’ but still no sign of an apology

The limpet has moved. After months clinging to his rock of denial, Gordon Brown has said he will take "full responsibility" for his failures in the economic crisis... but he still will not say he is sorry.

Only a fortnight ago, Brown was refusing to budge, even at the pleading of his pals in the Cabinet, Alistair Darling and Ed Balls, who told him privately that by saying 'sorry' he could win back public support.

Brown fumed at journalists who had the temerity to raise the 'apologise' question on his plane back from Washington to see his new ally in global economic recovery, President Barack Obama. He was in total denial. But then David Cameron said sorry, and that appears to have prized the limpet into a microscopic movement.

"I take full responsibility for all my actions," he says in an interview with Patrick Wintour in today's Guardian. But then he adds a 'but', to spoil the effect.

"But I think we're dealing with a bigger problem that is global in nature, as well as national. Perhaps 10 years ago after the Asian crisis when other countries thought these problems would go away, we should have been tougher... keeping and forcing these issues on to the agenda like we did on debt relief and other issues of international policy."

Cameron's team will be going over the words carefully, and the Opposition leader can be expected to try to prize the limpet from his rock tomorrow at Prime Minister's Questions.

Brown is only admitting that he was not tougher in cracking down on the mistakes of others, not that he made any mistakes himself. He is still sticking to his belief that he was not to blame for promoting 'light touch' regulation that fuelled the reckless financial binge that brought British banking to its knees.

Nor, it seems, was Brown the man who discouraged saving, for example, by scrapping tax-free saving accounts such as Tessas, and replacing them with less attractive Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).

Brown is now urging the Chancellor to repair some of the damage in his April 22 Budget. Look out for a big increase in the limit for annual tax-free investment in cash ISAs, currently £3,600 pa. Brown dropped the heaviest hint that Darling will act particularly to help the Baby Boomers now approaching retirement who last week saw annuity rates crash by up to two per cent, and will have to rely on interest on their savings to survive the recession.

"We are looking at how the ISA can be made more attractive for the future... These are things that we’re intent on doing. I think in the Budget you will some announcements," said Brown in a BBC Today interview recently. But one of the Budget 'announcements' will not be 'sorry', not yet anyway.

THE MOLE: BROWN APOLOGY

LAST UPDATED 8:50 AM, MARCH 17, 2009