UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French president Nicolas Sarkozy this morning urged the world's governments to consider adopting the kind of bonus tax announced by the UK yesterday, and also made a case for a financial transaction levy in a letter in The Wall Street Journal.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal's opinion pages, Sarkozy and Brown said that a one-off tax in relation to bonuses should be a priority, while other proposals, such as a financial transaction tax and insurance premiums, should also be considered.