Yesterday Downing Street was forced to deny rumours that U.S. President Barack Obama turned down offers of 'one-to-one' talks with Gordon Brown during the Prime Minister's trip to New York. The story is being played out in the mainstream press as a breakdown in the special relationship between the US and the UK but to me this seems more than a little melodramatic.
In the worst case scenario the White House may have considered that it wasn't worth talking to Brown; a leader that will more than likely be out of power in a matter of months. Even then this comes nowhere near to signifying the end of a relationship that has endured for decades between these two countries, one only has to look at the speeches given by the two leaders at the UN General Assembly to see how in sync the two nations are.
The more likely reasoning behind Obama's 'snubbing' is that he was far too busy to meet with Brown at this busy time on the international political calendar. Japan has a new Prime Minister with whom Obama would like to meet and of course countries like China and Russia are key allies when it comes to dealing with Iran. I have no doubt that Brown would like to have met with Obama but just because practicality says no doesn't mean we should jump to irrational conclusions; after all the President didn't meet with any other EU leaders either.
It certainly seems that neither Gordon Brown nor the Labour government can do anything right at the moment with most political stories ending up all over their face. Take the Baroness Scotland story for example. A clerical error by the Attorney General could cost her her job. Never mind the brilliant legal work that she has done with the Crown Prosecution Service, she too has been dragged into the Labour mire as part of yet more petty political point scoring.
Don't get me wrong I am always happy to see the demise of a Labour government, it's just I would rather see them fall because of their policy, not because they forgot to photocopy something.
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