London, July 13 (Reuters): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied today a shift in foreign policy away from the US after one of his ministers told an audience there that a country’s strength depended on alliances not military might.

International development secretary Douglas Alexander, in a speech in Washington yesterday, said while Britain stood beside the US in fighting terrorism, isolationism did not work in an interdependent world.

“In the 20th century a country’s might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st, strength should be measured by what we can build together,” Alexander said, in comments interpreted by British media as signalling a change in the British government’s relationship with the US.

A spokesman for Brown denied the speech marked any turnaround in policy and said the interpretation put on Alexander’s words by the media was “quite extraordinary”. Brown told BBC radio he would continue to work closely with the US administration. Washington has been watching Brown's new government for signs of any policy change.