Mr Brown goes to Washington

[T_i_B]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_kettle/2008/04/mr_brown_goes_to_washington_1.html

There is no political payback for a British prime minister in being photographed at the White House either. Perhaps Brown has decided that, with his ratings in free fall, he must go and be rude to George Bush in person, in the hope that this will stop the rot. Perhaps he'll throw his mobile phone at the president, as they say he does at his secretaries and his drivers.

There's not a lot of mileage in the planned meeting with John McCain either. Brown did that one in London the other day anyway. The only thing about Britain that interests McCain is that Britain should keep its troops in Iraq for as long as the US does - which would be until the 22nd century if he gets his way. This is the last thing that Brown wants, especially if McCain eases himself of an encomium for Tony Blair's Iraq policy.

So how about the meeting with Hillary Clinton? To ask the question is to supply the answer. She's a loser. He may be one too, but not yet. Maybe they can swap notes on what it's like to be the unsuccessful candidate of strength and experience at a time when the voters were looking for change.

So, the answer to my original question is clear. Brown is going to America for one reason and one reason only - to be photographed with Barack Obama. The rest is irrelevant. Everything else on this trip is a sideshow compared with Brown's wish to be redeemed and made whole again by touching the young prophet's robe in Washington. Traditionally, of course, it's the young aspiring candidate who makes the long transatlantic trip to burnish his electability by being photographed with the man of experience and power. This time, though, the roles are reversed. It's our beleaguered incumbent prime minister who is looking for a bit of reflected credibility by being photographed with the up-and-coming embodiment of the new politics. It's a master-pupil relationship - and Obama has all the lessons to teach.