Waiting for The Man

I’m sitting the Locarno room at the Foreign Office waiting with 200 other hacks for the Obama/Brown press conference, and even in this august circumstance there’s an air of a palpable expectation.

Not of course in terms of economic breakthrough but the mere arrival of The Man.

There are American and British flags entwined on the base in this English Imperial pile, and everybody awaits with some anxiety the arrival of what is called the “travelling White House press corps”.

They are notoriously assertive and will come crashing in, seizing our preciously reserved seats. Some of us have been here since dawn.

As for content, everyone is talking about Sarkozy’s threat to walk out if there isn’t a global regulatory deal. And others are talking about Brazil’s President Lula coming here by train from Paris.

He will change trains at Stratford East, and some are jesting that he will see few white faces with blue eyes (those that he has blamed for the pickle we are in).

To watch live coverage of Barack Obama’s meeting with Gordon Brown, plus the protests in the City of London, click here.