A defiant Gordon Brown will fly back to Britain today determined to face down a gathering storm of protest over his abolition of the 10p tax rate.

The Prime Minister is privately furious at what he regards as misrepresentation of the effects of the tax change and the activities of a handful of malcontent backbenchers.

Although some ministers are pressing him to make concessions over the issue, Mr Brown is giving little indication that he is in a mood to compromise.

Appearing on the Radio 4 programme Any Questions last night, Angela Eagle, the Treasury Minister, appeared to signal that concessions were being prepared. However, senior sources at Number 11 later insisted that there was no prospect of a change in policy.

Three more ministerial aides voiced their concerns yesterday, the day after the Prime Minister narrowly avoided losing Angela Smith, Yvette Cooper’s parliamentary private secretary. Jeff Ennis, David Anderson and Celia Barlow joined the growing list of Labour MPs to protest.

Mr Brown told GMTV that people were not taking into account the changes to tax credits and the lowering of the basic rate of tax from 22p to 20p. He also blames the media for stoking up tensions and failing to report the issue properly while he has been abroad.

He said: “There are issues about how we get our message across to the public and I was explaining to her that we’ve cut the basic rate of tax from 22p to 20p, we’ve raised child benefit for seven million mothers and families in this country, we’re raising the child tax credit, we’re raising the pensioner’s winter allowance, we’re raising the pensioner’s tax credit.”

Mr Brown believes that it is virtually impossible to say that people will lose out and that all the predictions made so far are out of date.

Asked about reports suggesting that he had been depressed, after a series of bust-ups inside Downing Street, he replied: “I get up in the morning saying this is the best job in the world. It’s a great opportunity to serve.”

The row overshadowed Mr Brown’s speech in Boston where he suggested that a new president of the United States and the recent changes to governments in Europe were presenting an unparallelled opportunity.

He is calling for “a new World Bank, a new International Monetary Fund, a reformed and renewed United Nations . . . that is greater than the sum of its parts; strong regional organisations from the European Union to the African Union able to bring to a troubled world the humanitarian aid, peacekeeping and the support for stability and reconstruction that has been absent for too long — all built around a new global society founded on revitalised international rules and institutions, and grounded in the great values we share in common”.

He said: “Now is an opportunity for an historic effort in co-operation; a new dawn in collaborative action between America and Europe — a new commitment from Europe that I believe all European leaders can work with America to forge stronger transatlantic links.”

His comments reflect a belief that the current generation of leaders in France, Germany and Italy are now prepared to move forward on institutional reform.

He added that emerging nations such as China, India, South Africa and Brazil should be given a greater say in organisations such as the G8, the IMF and the World Bank.

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