FORMER Soviet leader Mikhael Gorbachev yesterday warned against attempts to westernise other countries.

He said a new world order had to be built - but not by "Americanising" other cultures across the globe.

Mr Gorbachev, 71, made his call when he made his first visit to the North of England, to speak to more than 1,000 business leaders from the region in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

He praised the current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and also the domestic policies of former US president Bill Clinton. But he warned that all world leaders were struggling to keep up with a rapidly-changing world.

"Everything is changing very rapidly and that's why policy makers are lagging behind," he said. "Unfortunately, we wasted a lot of time after the end of the Cold War. Today, we have to build a new world order step by step."

However, he said there should be no attempts to westernise other cultures in the way communism had once tried to spread.

"These protests against globalisation mean that people want to preserve their own identity, their own cultures."

He said: "Look at Great Britain. That is the toughest nut to crack in the European Union."

Among the other speakers taking the platform with him was the former FBI director under Mr Clinton, Louis Freeh.

He told delegates to be aware of international threats to business and public safety and said countering this would involve a greater amount of cooperation between law enforcement agencies around the world.

He said: "In the law enforcement realm, it's impossible to operate unilaterally."

Mr Freeh added: "The globalisation of business of commerce is equalled by the globalisation of crime."

Other speakers at the conference included "rogue trader" Nick Leeson, former voice of Formula One Murray Walker, and TV funny man Rory Bremner.