Lord Browne of Madingley told last night how he had drawn strength from the memory of his late mother, an Auschwitz survivor, to help him to cope after his resignation as the chief executive of BP.

In his first public appearance since losing his job, Lord Browne, 59, said that he wanted to put the past behind him after it was revealed that he had lied to a court about a gay relationship.

He kept a long-held appointment to deliver a lecture in Brussels on the environment two days after he was forced to stand down from his job three months earlier than planned.

At the start of his speech he said: “The last few days have been testing for me personally and I would like to express my deep gratitude for all the enormous support I have received. I learnt many things from my late mother, Paula, a survivor of Auschwitz, but most of all I learnt it is the future that is worth looking to and not the past, and so I shall.”

His brief statement was the only planned reference to the disastrous court proceedings that bought an abrupt end to one of the most distinguished careers in British industry. Lord Browne, Britain’s most powerful businessman, was forced to resign after the House of Lords rejected his attempt to keep secret his relationship with a former escort, Jeff Chevalier. He had previously lied to the court about how he met Mr Chevalier, 27. They met through a male escort agency.

Lord Browne’s mother, who died seven years ago, was a towering figure in his life and a refugee from Eastern Europe. They were exceptionally close and friends of Lord Browne have said that it was only after her death that he was prepared to become more open about his sexuality.

Lord Browne’s lecture was held in honour of the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. He praised the “indomitable spirit” of “one of the most enlightened businesspeople in the world”.

The speech began with praise for the work of Professor Sen and especially his writings on “multiple identities”. This was ostensibly a way of urging business, government and individuals to put aside self-interest and work together on the environment.

But it also sounded like a plea to his critics to look at his character and achievements in the round when he gave warning of “the dangers of limiting people by identifying them in a narrow category and forgetting that we have multiple identities which come from the work we do, the place we live and our personal relations”.

Lord Browne kept his composure throughout the hour-long session but refused to take questions about the furore surrounding his attempt to conceal the nature of his personal relationship. In the lecture, he proposed the creation of an international climate change agency to monitor and enforce new targets for limiting greenhouse gases. But asked whether someone of his expertise would like to lead such a body, he replied: “As for my expertise in the future, that is not for me to say. That is for someone else to suggest.”

It emerged yesterday that Lord Browne is expected to appear at a lawyers’ office in Texas next week to give a formal statement about BP’s safety record. Brent Coon, an American lawyer representing BP workers injured in a Texas refinery blast, said that he still wanted to question Lord Browne. Mr Coon said: “We’re going to depose that man.”

He said that the former chief executive was expected to appear at a law office in Houston on Wednesday and that he would pursue Lord Browne if he failed to show up.

Mr Coon claims that Lord Browne approved corporate budget cuts that weakened safety procedures at BP’s Texas City refinery. Fifteen people died and more than 100 workers were injured in the explosion in March 2005. US government investigators have reported that critical equipment at the refinery was “unsafe and antiquated”.

The announcement follows the revelation in The Times yesterday that an American court has been asked to freeze Lord Browne’s outstanding £55 million pay and bonus package.

Lawyers acting for some of Britain’s biggest pension funds are seeking to reduce what they consider to be overly generous packages for the BP board. They told Alaska District Court on Wednesday that Lord Browne’s payments should be frozen until the case is decided because he had admitted to lying to the High Court in London.

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