Brown 'sorry' over girls' football ban

Gordon Brown has stepped in to a dispute over regulations preventing young girls from playing mixed football once they reach their 12th birthday.

The chancellor will take on the Football Association over the case of a talented female footballer who will soon be banned from taking part in mixed games.

"I will have to take this up with the FA and I will have to think about this," he told 10-year-old Ashleigh Porschke.

Brown was being quizzed by 50 youngsters to celebrate the 10th year of Channel Five News.

In the interview he named Winston Churchill as his favourite prime minister and praised Lloyd George for introducing a welfare and pensions system as well the current premier.

"I think Tony Blair is a great prime minister and history will judge him as someone who not only changed the Labour Party, but for 10 years has put Britain in the right direction," he said.

The chancellor also answered questions on the Iraq war, the environment, the health service and gun crime.

While he said he personally preferred to take holidays in Britain, he added that people should be free to travel internationally if they were aware of how their choices affected the environment.