Whenever Blair didn’t like the heat in Britain he’d jet off abroad. But Brown’s trip to America seems to cast his shortcomings into even sharper relief. My thoughts on the visit so far:
1) Meeting Wall Street figures and pretending to bang heads together about the credit crunch will be recognised as a stunt in America. USA Today has a quote to this effect from Graham Wilson, a political science professor at Boston University. “I’m skeptical that any jawboning has any effect. I’m not sure Wall Street will respond to a British prime minister.”
2) Wilson also tells USA Today “If he wanted publicity in the United States, it’s a rather odd time to come.” Sky News has this quote from Willis Witter, Washington Times Acting Editor: “The main problem is the timing. Any foreign leader who comes when the Pope is here isn’t going to get a whole lot of attention”.
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