Britannia Radio

TELEGRAPH   25.9.08
US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson rejected Gordon Brown meeting
Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, is understood to have 
rejected a request for a meeting with Gordon Brown, delivering a snub 
to the Prime Minister during his visit to America.

    By Robert Winnett and Andrew Porter

Mr Brown announced in his Labour Party conference speech that he 
would be meeting "financial and Government leaders in New York" in a 
bid to resolve the financial crisis gripping world economies but he 
is actually now expected to meet only a handful of American 
financiers. He has also pledged to "rebuild the world financial system".

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, expressed surprise over the 
apparent snub. "I cannot believe that after telling us yesterday that 
he's the man to sort out the international crisis, Gordon Brown is 
flying all the way to the US and not meeting the man at the centre of 
resolving that crisis," he said.

The American Treasury Secretary is currently attempting to establish 
a $700 billion (£377 billion) bail-out find to take on bad banking 
debts. He is putting intense pressure on other countries, including 
Britain, to contribute tens of billions of pounds into the scheme - 
or to set up similar funds.

However, the Bank of England and Treasury are reluctant to join the 
scheme and have so far refused. One well-placed source said: "There 
is a lot of pressure behind the scenes from Paulson."

The US Treasury Secretary is facing increasing domestic opposition to 
his bail-out plan and is angered by the reluctance of foreign 
governments to participate.

A City analyst estimated that a British version of the US bail-out 
fund would need to be £20 billion in size to rescue 75 per cent of 
the country's outstanding non-prime mortgages.

Mr Paulson, the former head of Goldman Sachs, is co-ordinating the 
American effort to deal with the impact of the global financial 
turmoil. Over the past few weeks, he has made a number of audacious 
moves including nationalising Freddie and Fannie Mac and American 
International Group (AIG). He was also involved in leading key talks 
on the future of investment banks and is close to George W Bush, the 
American President.

The Prime Minister has angered Republicans by apparently praising 
Barack Obama's economic policies in a magazine article earlier this 
month. Downing Street claimed that the article was written by a 
junior aide and that Mr Brown had not intended to endorse either 
candidate.

In the introduction to the Prime Minister's conference speech, clips 
of Mr Obama were also played talking about Mr Brown. A spokesman for 
the American Presidential Candidate issued a statement saying that Mr 
Obama was not endorsing the Prime Minister.

Mr Brown will spend two days in New York before returning to Britain 
at the weekend. The original purpose of his trip was to attend talks 
at the United Nations to discuss alleviating international poverty.

However, in his Labour Party conference speech, he said: "It falls to 
this party and to this government, with its commitment both to 
fairness and to business, to propose and deliver what after recent 
events everyone should now be willing to accept - that we do all it 
takes to stabilise the still turbulent financial markets and then in 
the months ahead we rebuild the world financial system around clear 
principles. And friends the work begins tomorrow.
"I and then Alistair [Darling, the Chancellor] will meet financial 
and government leaders in New York to make these proposals."

However, the official schedule for the trip shows he has a breakfast 
on Thursday morning with "fund managers from Wall Street" to discuss 
the financial crisis. He is also meeting Mayor Bloomberg and giving a 
speech on Friday about the global turmoil.

Mr Brown will announce a new global malaria action plan that will aim 
to completely eradicate the disease by 2015. Also travelling with the 
Prime Minister were Elle Macpherson and the Duchess of York

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that Mr Brown was travelling 
to New York and Mr Paulson would be in Washington DC. However, he 
refused to comment on whether a meeting had been requested and rejected.