G20 leaders' bid to rescue economy

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The Prime Minister greeted US President Barack Obama warmly at the Excel Centre in east London as they faced using their freshly-cemented special relationship to win over delegates.

A long line of limousines containing the other world leaders streamed through London's Docklands amidst extremely tight security for the G20 summit.

The talks were being seen as a key test of the Prime Minister's leadership and diplomacy.

President Obama has warned that agreement at the summit was essential if the world was to avoid the mistakes which led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

However, hopes of a deal hit a last-minute stumbling block after French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel warned they would not sign up unless there was tougher regulation of financial markets.

At a joint news conference on Wednesday, they said that it was a "red line" issue and that they would speak with "one and the same voice" in the talks.

While there is a general belief that failure to reach an agreement would be unthinkable - sending financial markets into a tailspin - Mr Brown may have to endure some tense negotiating before he gets his deal.

Mr Sarkozy in particular has faced accusations of grandstanding for the benefit of a French domestic audience, a claim he angrily brushed aside insisting that his hard-line stance was nothing to do with "ego or temper tantrums".

But Chief Treasury Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted that there was more of a consensus between the countries. She told the BBC: "There's a surprising amount of consensus, both about the need for the stronger regulation but also about action to boost our economies. People call it a fiscal stimulus, it's basically governments taking action to support the economy, put more money into the economy."