Gordon Brown brought his Cabinet into line last night to reassure the White House that he was not going cool on the special relationship.

After just over two weeks as Prime Minister, Mr Brown asked Tom Scholar, his chief of staff, to write to all the Cabinet emphasising the importance of the link with America and reminding them of his own words that “we will not allow people to separate us from the United States in dealing with the common challenges we face around the world”.

The move was an effort to mend fences with the US Administration after a day of confusion over the implications of a speech in Washington by Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary and one of Mr Brown’s closest allies, which was widely seen as a criticism of US foreign policy. Mr Brown will also fly to Washington to see President Bush, probably within the next 2½ weeks, earlier than expected.

British officials contacted the White House directly yesterday morning to emphasise that no slight had been intended and Downing Street described as “nonsense” and “extraordinary” the interpretations placed by some newspapers on Mr Alexander’s speech.

The Times understands that the speech was sent to No 10 and seen by several senior officials, but they did not refer it to Mr Brown. Last night Downing Street denied that the letter to Cabinet ministers was a slapdown for Mr Alexander. It was clearly, however, a warning from Mr Brown to the Cabinet to refrain from making remarks that could be interpreted as a weakening of his Government’s support for US foreign policy. He was prepared to be seen to be laying down the law so early in his premiership after what American officials have seen as a series of signals that he will not give the same unqualified support to Mr Bush as did Tony Blair. Mr Brown knows that his appointment of the former UN official Mark Malloch Brown, a critic of American foreign policy, as a minister has caused unhappiness in Washington.

The letter also reminded ministers of the words of David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who said that none of the world’s biggest problems could be solved without the United States.

Mr Alexander, in his address to the Council on Foreign Relations, said that isolationism “simply does not work in an interdependent world”. Then he added: “In the 20th century a country’s might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together.

“And so we must form new allian-ces, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world.” He called for a “multilateralist, not unilateralist” approach that meant a “rules-based international system”.

After several papers, including The Times, reported the remarks as a coded criticism of US foreign policy, Mr Brown took to the airwaves to emphasise that there was no change in his Government’s stance on the US. Mr Alexander’s speech did appear, however, to have shaken relations between the new British Government and President Bush. Officials confirmed that they were handling a “heavy traffic” of calls from worried counterparts in Washington.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington, claimed yesterday that there was growing concern in the White House at the direction of the British Government.

Mr Gardiner said that the appointment of Lord Malloch-Brown at the Foreign and Commonwealth had gone down particularly badly. The Bush Administration was now “well aware that Brown is seeking to distance himself from them”, he added.

The new tension between Britain and America came as Mr Blair travelled to the US for a business and political conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, yesterday. The former prime minister, who was making his first transatlantic visit since leaving Downing Street, was the surprise star speaker at the annual meeting of Allen and Co, which was also attended by Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, who is considering running for the White House as an independent. A spokesman for Mr Blair said that he was receiving only expenses and this was not the start of his public speaking tour of America.

Times Recommends

• 'Radio Rancid' is scourge of Obama
• French gulp as global warming alters wines
• Colton, the barefoot boy bandit, outfoxes sheriffs