'Son of the Manse at his best' VERDICT PM's historic speech to Congress greeted by standing ovations.

Byline: By Brian Reade

IT seemed bizarre that Gordon Brown had to fly 3,000 miles to remind us what we saw in him in the first place.

But in this passionate, poignant 35 minutes, we caught a glimpse of why we ached for that actor Tony Blair to exit stage right.

And for a man at whose core is a burning desire for social justice to take his place.

Considering the enormity of the honour being bestowed on him by Congress and the huge pressure he is under in Britain this was the biggest speech of Gordon Brown's life.

And one of his best, delivered from the heart.

This was The Son of The Manse at his finest, fired up with the confidence of being on his own territory, the world economy.

He was measured, compassionate, freed from staged gags (he didn't make one, thank God).

He was sermonising about how fiscal matters can feed enduring values.

He had both houses of Capitol Hill on their feet 19 times - the same as Tony Blair in 2003 - and his speech lasting a good five minutes less.

And when you consider that Blair was the pin-up boy who'd conned the world into backing their illegal rape of Iraq, that's some going.

At first Brown played them like a Kentucky banjo.

He told of the knighthood winging its way to Teddy Kennedy, of America being an inspirational beacon to the rest of the world, the love affair between our two nations.

The he burst into a line that could have been penned by Dolly Parton: "No power on earth can ever drive us apart."

But Brown has always been an unashamed Yankophile, and somehow even the flattery appeared to come from the heart.

There were some clunky soundbites as he spoke of Partnerships of Purpose and at times he was clearly speaking to the voters back home.

But ultimately this was a speech aimed at luring America back into the world fold after the dark days of Bush.

And it worked.

The Democrats whooped wildly as he spoke of the need to clamp down on tax-havens and make wealth help more than just the wealthy.

The Republicans at times looked on in disdain, fearing they were listening to a goddam Limey socialist.

And at times so did I. Jesus, Gordon, where have you been?