Gordon Brown pins his hopes of recovery on Barack Obama

Gordon Brown pins his hopes of recovery on Barack Obama
Leaders to make case for state spending
Tom Baldwin in Washington and Philip Webster, Political Editor

Gordon Brown will seek to make common cause with President Obama next week over the best way to take the world out of recession.

The Prime Minister aims to use a two-day trip to Washington to bond with the US President over the issue on which Mr Brown has staked his damaged political reputation: the massive state-funded stimulus packages to the world’s stricken economies.

One Downing Street aide described their White House meeting as an attempt to present a united front against the “forces of global conservatism”.

Mr Brown’s trip will include a rare address to a joint session of Congress, which, he hopes, will garner support for a co-ordinated economic policy before April’s G20 summit in London and help to frame the political debate at home.

While Mr Brown does not expect any immediate improvement in his domestic fortunes, a seasoned party strategist said that the trip represented his “best — if not last — chance” of holding power at an election next year.

He will be the first EU leader to meet the President since the US election. He has already sought to highlight how the almost unanimous resistance from US Republicans to Mr Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package mirrors the opposition he has encountered.

The Tories repeated yesterday that Mr Brown’s VAT cut had failed and that his promise to boost public works programmes had not materialised.

The White House — knowing that it may well have to work with David Cameron next year — will resist being drawn into a British political dispute. However, senior Democratic figures who are close to Mr Obama but have remained outside the Administration are not subject to such constraints.

John Podesta, who ran the presidential transition team, told The Times that fiscal conservatives opposed to paying for economic stimulus had showed an “ideological dichotomy” and had a policy vision “fundamentally at odds” with that of Mr Obama.

Rob Shapiro, an economic adviser to the President’s election campaign, said: “If \ were in government with that economic position it would be a matter of great concern to the Obama Administration.”

Mr Brown’s allies say that it will be the results of the G20 that will determine whether he can salvage his standing as an economic leader. His poll ratings improved after the bank rescue in October but have slumped again since the beginning of the year.

He will try to persuade Mr Obama that action taken internationally to combat depression will enhance the domestic efforts he is already making. He has made similar pleas to most European leaders in recent weeks.

In talks with George Bush at Camp David two years ago, Mr Brown recoiled from an opportunity to continue the warm relations forged by Tony Blair. On Tuesday, when he meets Mr Obama at the White House, he will do his best to seen as embracing a new President with levels of popularity in Britain to which he can only aspire.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5818543.ece

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