Britain's Brown in 'save the world' slip

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sparked uproar in the House of Commons on Wednesday by claiming to have "saved the world" in a slip of the tongue seized on with glee by the opposition.

Brown -- who has rejected humourous comparisons with cartoon superhero Flash Gordon -- was replying to taunts on his handling of the economic crisis from Conservative leader David Cameron.

"We not only saved the world, er, saved the banks," said Brown at his weekly question-and-answer session in parliament, and tried to recover, but Conservative MPs drowned out what he was saying with jeering.

When the noise died down, Brown tried again, saying: "We not only worked with other countries to save the world's banking system, but not one depositor actually lost any money in Britain."

He added: "The opposition may not like the fact that we led the world in saving the banking system, but we did."

When Cameron rose to his feet, he said: "Well it's now on the record, he's so busy talking about saving the world, he's forgotten about the businesses in the country he governs."

Britain was one of the first major economies to issue a bailout package for banks struggling in the credit crunch, with a mixture of cash injections and guarantees to encourage banks to resume lending to each other.

One of Brown's campaign slogans when he became prime minister last year was "Not flash, just Gordon" -- intended to play up his spin-free credentials and lack of stardust compared to his predecessor Tony Blair.

In October this year, after widespread international praise for his handling of the financial crisis, he again insisted he was not Flash Gordon, saviour of the universe, telling reporters: "Just Gordon. Just Gordon, I can assure you."