McCain meets Gordon Brown in Downing St

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

Gordon Brown is holding his first meeting with US presidential hopeful John McCain, with Iraq and Afghanistan likely to be high on the agenda.

Mr McCain's brief trip to London is part of a wider tour that has included visits to Iraq, Jordan and Israel. He says his trip - which after London involves a stopover in Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy - is a fact-finding tour with fellow senators.

He arrived at 10 Downing Street at 0843 GMT for talks. Later he will meet Conservative leader David Cameron.

During his whistle-stop visit, Mr McCain is likely to give his thanks for the efforts of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But in interviews ahead of his visit to London, he expressed concern about the UK's withdrawal of troops from southern Iraq.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7305731.stm

[saigon68]

1. Was his "little handler" Joementum Limpmann with him?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Halfwit! Did he warn Gordon Brown, as well, about Iran's training Al Qaida and sending

them back into Iraq to shoot Americans? I'll just bet Gordon Brown didn't know about that. He'll probably thank John McCain for coming all that way to tell him.





Steve Bell, Guardian

[DCKit]

3. Have the powers that be annointed McInsane?

It's rather pretentious of him to visit a head of state as a candidate.

[jimshoes]

4. I was thinking the same thing.

What's up with that?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Oh, YEAH. It's like he's saying, "Why wait until I'm selected, let's get to business now." n/t

[T_i_B]

6. McCain praises Brown

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/20/foreignpolicy.iraq

John McCain, the US presidential candidate, praised Gordon Brown as a "very strong leader" today after the two men met for talks in Downing Street.

It was the first meeting between Brown and the Republican senator, who is tipped to become the next American president, and afterwards McCain told reporters that he admired Brown.

"I appreciate very much his commitment to continuing the unique relationship between our two countries, which will remain unique," said McCain, who spent about 45 minutes with the prime minister as part of a delegation of US senators. "I think he's a very strong leader. I appreciate his commitment to climate change, his use of international organisations to try to help the situation in Africa, his commitment to our relationship and a number of other issues that we were able to address."

After his talks with Brown, McCain had a meeting lasting almost an hour with David Cameron, the Conservative leader, and other senior Tories at the House of Commons. McCain spoke at the 2006 Conservative party conference, Cameron's first as leader, and two men are said to know each other well. Afterwards, Cameron said their meeting was "fascinating and very productive". He said that among the subjects they discussed was "how we can broaden the appeal of moderate Conservatism".