AS BROWN IS SNUBBED FIVE TIMES BY OBAMA, LABOUR'S MAJORITY IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND COLLAPSES

Feeling a bit tired and sleepy tonight but to keep you entertained, I take great pleasure in posting this following story from The Grauniad - yes, really, The Grandiau!! And I've included an extract from the FT which also makes dismal reading for McFuckwit - how I laughed!!

Gordon Brown lurched from being hailed as a global statesman to intense embarrassment tonight, after it emerged US President Barack Obama had turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today.

The prime minister, eager to portray himself as a leading player on the international stage in America this week, was also forced to play down suggestions from inside his own party that he might step down early, either due to ill health or deteriorating eyesight.

There have been tensions between the White House and No 10 for weeks over Brown's handling of the Scottish government's decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Brown's efforts to secure a prestigious primetime slot for his keynote speech at the general assembly in New York were also thwarted when the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, delivered a 100-minute speech to the UN, massively running over Brown's 15 minute slot.

Brown had not only been seeking a bilateral meeting with Obama, but feelers were also sent out to hold a joint press conference, an event that would have boosted Brown's efforts to offer himself as a linchpin of international diplomacy. Government sources said that Britain even changed its policy on swine flu immunisation in Africa to match that of the Obama administration last week, in an attempt to rebuild relations.

No 10 denied there had been any hint of a snub, saying Obama and Brown had plenty of chances to talk as they sat next to one another at the summits. They insisted they were working hand-in-glove, (a boxing glove, perhaps), on issues such as future economic regulation, bankers' bonuses, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change. Brown himself insisted: "I do say that the special relationship is strong, it continues to strengthen."

But Obama has held bilateral meetings in New York with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, and the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama.

News of the five spurned approaches compounded a miserable day for Brown at home which saw a parliamentary aide resign over the prime minister's refusal to sack Lady Scotland, the attorney general, after she was fined £5,000 for employing an illegal immigrant, as well as a withering attack by the former home secretary Charles Clarke.

Stephen Hesford, Labour MP for Wirral West, told Brown in a resignation letter: "In my view, the facts of the case do not matter. It is the principle which counts, particularly at a time when the public's trust of Whitehall is uncertain to say the least. We have to be seen to be accountable."

Brown was also savaged by Charles Clarke, who told the Evening Standard that in his view Brown's leadership risked letting "the whole Labour ship crash on to the rocks of May 2010 [the expected date of the general election] and sink for a very long time".

He said he hoped rumours that Brown would quit would come true. "I think his own dignity ought to look to that kind of solution."

Labour’s lead over the Conservatives in the north of England, its traditional electoral stronghold, has collapsed under Gordon Brown, according to Financial Times research that shows David Cameron on course for a clear majority of English seats.

The loss of Labour’s northern bulwark is a fresh blow for the prime minister ahead of a potentially difficult and rebellious party conference next week.

The FT’s analysis of the most recent aggregated polling data, which allows sufficiently large sample sizes to show reliable regional and demographic trends, paints a bleak picture for Labour.

The Tories have built a narrow four-point lead in the north, eradicating the 19-point Labour lead in the region that underpinned Tony Blair’s last general election victory, the research shows. The 11.5 percentage point swing from Labour to the Tories in the north since the May 2005 poll is the largest for any region of Britain.