Since the loss of its empire, the UK has claimed prestige largely on its "special relationship" with the US. But it doesn't seem to be going so well:
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.Ah, the perils of sycophancy. There's nothing so pathetic as a poodle denied a leg to rub urgently against. Meanwhile the UK press goes bananas over the "snub", while completely ignoring the real reason: that despite its pretensions, the UK just isn't that important anymore.[...]
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.