Gordon Brown was over here last week. I have been eager to see what identity he would carve out for himself. Sounds like he is off to a good start…

Put simply, Brown sees the struggle against radical Islamism entirely differently from Bush, and therefore Blair. While their focus was on rogue regimes that posed a threat to the west, and the use of force to remove them, Brown sees a battle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. While the favoured comparison of the Bush-Blair era was the second world war against Hitler and fascism, Brown looks to the cold war with Soviet communism.

The Dems tried (and failed) to frame the battle against Osama and his buddies as a police action rather than a struggle of Good vs Evil. Brown is framing it the same way:

 But while the president said the west confronted “an ideology of darkness”, Brown declared that “terrorism is not a cause; it is a crime”. That immediately denies the terrorist the dignity of an enemy and casts him instead as a mere criminal, to be hunted down chiefly by policework and intelligence.

and

Perhaps more importantly, Brown wants the west to regain the moral high ground he believes is essential to victory in any ideological struggle. He’s long been an advocate on Aids, poverty and debt. But now there’s an added urgency. If the west is seen to be acting justly, then it will be that much harder for Osama bin Laden to rail against wicked western imperialism.

Quotes from The Guardian.