Forget Bush; Brown Talks to Candidates

Gordon Brown pointedly met with all three US presidential candidates before meeting with President Bush today. Britain’s unpopular prime minister seems eager to look to the future, Reuters reports, lest he be labeled “Bush’s poodle” as predecessor Tony Blair was. Brown said he wouldn’t endorse any of the candidates, but hopes the eventual winner will improve relations with Europe.

Later in the day, Brown met with Bush, and the two proclaimed their relationship strong in a good-natured press conference. Both leaders expressed their impatience with Iran, and Brown called for more European sanctions, the Washington Post notes. Bush said Iranian leaders had proven themselves to be "untrustworthy." (More Gordon Brown stories.)