Does he regret snubbing Barack back in the summer?

A story in the Times overnight has it that Brown is desperately trying to build relations with Barack Obama after snubbing the now Democratic front-runner during the summer.

According to the paper a meeting had been tentatively fixed but then Downing Street “got the willies” and the possible future President of the United States was offered a drop by private meeting instead. President Sarkozy of France, by contrast, offered Mr Obama an official welcome at the Élysée Palace.

Apparently Gordon, a close follower of US politics for many years, was, according to the paper, “..worried about being seen to help Mr Obama at a time when Mrs Clinton appeared to be the likely — even inevitable — nominee.”

Meanwhile it’s reported that Obama has met Tony Blair, the possible future President of Europe, three times already.

A spokesman for Mr Brown is now quoted “It goes without saying that there is an open invitation to any of the candidates to meet with the Prime Minister should they be in London.”

In the betting Obama now stands at 0.3/1.

Mike Smithson