Brown faces G20 upset…
aGORDON Brown found the beginning of his G20 conference overshadowed at home and abroad yesterday, as his closest economic adviser stepped down and President Obama appeared to snub him.
Baroness Shriti Vadera will leave government to take up a job as adviser to the G20, prompting speculation that the posting was an interim position designed to fill space before taking up a private sector role.
Trade minister Mervyn Davies will take over Vadera’s duties for the time being.
Meanwhile, Downing Street was forced to issue a denial that Obama had spurned the chance to hold a bilateral meeting with Brown at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Sources in the US claimed that Obama had not met with Brown in the lead-up to the summit, despite five requests from the Prime Minister’s aides.
But both sides denied any suggestion of a snub last night, saying that the pair talked regularly, with the White House dismissing the suggestion as “absurd”.
Brown said the “special relationship is strong and strengthening”, while Number 10 said Obama and Brown had talked at length after a UN dinner earlier this week.