Obama snubs Brown

Did Barack Obama give Gordon Brown the cold shoulder in New York earlier this week? Let’s examine the evidence.

It’s claimed that the prime minister’s people tried five times to arrange a meeting with the American president but were consistently snubbed. The president’s men have denied this, of course, but the probable motivation for Obama’s behaviour makes his alleged actions all the more understandable.

The release of the Lockerbie bomber offended American sensibilities. It went to the heart of US pride. Americans see the decision to send Abdelbasset al-Megrahi back to his native Libya on compassionate grounds as an affront to their suffering. And since the American justice system is based on retribution not redemption, someone has to pay for Britain’s ‘crime’ against the US and that person is Gordon Brown.