Britannia Radio

Brown denied photo-op as joint press conference is cancelled

Gordon Brown's planned joint press conference with US President

Barack Obama today to announce a 'global deal' on the economy has been demoted to a 'pool spray' - a few words with a hand-picked bunch of journalists travelling with Brown.

Downing Street officials have been working hard to deny overnight that this is a snub for Brown. But it has brassed off the Lobby journalists covering Brown's historic Washington trip - he's the first European leader to meet Obama at the White House - who got little out of the PM on the trip over on Brown Force One, only to be told on landing at a freezing Andrews air base that the scheduled joint press conference with the President is off.

Downing Street had been expecting the usual press conference with the PM and the President standing side-by-side at podiums with Obama, straight after their White House talks. Brown's people had briefed that the PM would be expecting presidential support for a 'new global deal' on the economy to pave the way for Brown's next starring role, hosting the G20 summit in London in April.

Brown's team were looking forward to a commanding image of Brown standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the President, extolling the virtues of Brown's economic stimulus package to rescue the world from global economic meltdown. Indeed, that was the photo op for which Brown had flown across the Atlantic.

However, Downing Street was informed by White House aides that sadly that won't be possible. Instead, they are going to try a 'pool spray' - White House jargon for a few words with a pooled group of journalists - possibly in the Oval Office.

This is the second disappointment for Brown on the PR front: originally, it was planned to have chummy leadership shots of the two men in the Rose Garden, but the icy weather in America made that impossible.

THE MOLE: PM IN WASHINGTON

FIRST POSTED MARCH 3, 2009

The Mole: Brown leaves Harman swinging in the wind