Brown set to meet White House hopefuls

Washington: Gordon Brown is to urge the next American president to re-engage with the world and show the kind of leadership America demonstrated in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.

His message will be conveyed to all three candidates for the White House in back-to-back meetings during his trip to the United States this week.

He will tell Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the Republican John McCain, that America must re-connect with the international community as the George W. Bush era draws to a close.

In his first major speech as Prime Minister on American soil, in Boston on Friday, he will call on the United States to create a world where nations work together, rather than simply pursuing what Brown has previously condemned as "their own self-interest". The Prime Minister, who is travelling with his wife, Sarah, and a big team from No 10, will meet President Bush at the White House, but his message is tailored to those who might replace him.

An official told The Sunday Telegraph: "During the course of Wednesday he will meet the three candidates. He is giving them the same attention."

Brown's foreign policy ideas are likely to have a receptive audience in Obama and Clinton, but he will also encourage the two Democratic candidates to support free trade, rather than give in to protectionist demands from their trade union supporters. Brown will come under pressure from Bush to authorise British troops in Iraq to do more to combat Iranian infiltration in and around Basra.