First it was Daniel Hannan. Then it was the Browns. And now none other than Moses is the latest person to be dragged into the debate over Barack Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms. In what has now become a transatlantic furore over health policy, Obama has now wheeled out the Bible in support of his position.

In a conference call with liberal and progressive faith groups, Obama asserted that his opponents were “bearing false witness” about his plans. His key argument for reform was also drawn from the Bible. Unlike the biblical character Cain, he argued, we are indeed our “brother’s keeper”. Both referencesare drawn from biblical texts traditionally attributed to Moses -Deuteronomy 5:20 and Genesis 4:9.

Interestingly, the same line about the importance of being our “brother’s keeper” was also delivered by Gordon Brown during a 2008 speech to the Church of Scotland. The phrase first entered the English language when William Tyndale translated the Bible into English and was later taken up by Shakespeare.