*shock* world turns against financial saviour

The Evening Argus reports

Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing rebuff when he floated the prospect of a new tax worldwide, only to have it flatly and publicly rejected by the United States and other major financial players.

Mr Brown raised the possibility of a worldwide levy on financial transactions in a speech to the world's most powerful finance ministers.

But US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner flatly rejected the idea, as did Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty.

Mr Geithner told Sky News: "That's not something that we're prepared to support." He later told a news conference: "This is an idea that has been around for a long time. Many countries have a lot of experience with the design of these kinds of taxes. I think, frankly, the experience has been mixed."

And Mr Flaherty said: "We are not in the business of raising taxes, we are in the business of lowering taxes in Canada. It is not an idea we would look at."

What happened? Is there a new messiah?