A sour taste in the mouth

Nick Robinson wonders why" did the diplomats get it so wrong?"

The decision by China and Russia to veto the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe seems remarkable in the light of the briefings given during the G8 summit.

This is what Gordon Brown said

For the first time the G8, including every country within the G8, has come out in favour of sanctions against Zimbabwe and it is clear in the script that was issued last night by the G8 about our views about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe".

but as Nick Robinson points out in fairness he went on to make clear the difference between the G8 and the Un

For the first time the G8, including every country within the G8, has come out in favour of sanctions against Zimbabwe and it is clear in the script that was issued last night by the G8 about our views about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe".

Russia made it clear that it thought the sanctions were uneccessary as Zimbabwe was not a threat to International securit in spite of President Medvedev's assurances in Japan,maybe an indicaton of who is pulling the strings in Moscow.

Maybe a play with words but what is the difference between regional and international security.

This morning's headlines fail to note that South Africa as well voted against sanctions clearly beleiving that its internal was far more important in the peace process.

As for China's vote,it's difficult to understand it in a the run up to the Olympics

As Daniel Nasaw says in the Guardian

The outcome at UN headquarters in New York will raise questions about the international community's ability to act decisively against Mugabe and his Zanu-PF ringleaders

Leading economist says G8 have failed over climate change

A leading government economist has critised the G8 summit for not doing a single thing to reduce emissions.

Guardian.co.uk reports that Professor Michael Grubb, the chief economist of the Carbon Trust

accused leaders - including the UK prime minister, Gordon Brown - of "an abrogation of responsibility".

and said

the richest country leaders also failed to make any firm promises even on issues they could agree outside the UN negotiations, like tackling emissions from aviation and shipping, details of how promises of "clean technology transfer" would happen, and increasing funds for poorer countries to adapt to climate change.

It's not just from scientists that Brown's trip is getting critised.In the Commons David Cameron replying to the Prime Minister's statement on the Japanese trip,h said that the progress on climate cahnge had been painfully slow.and added

People want to know that the outcome of the G8 is going to help people in this country,"

Well Done Gordon

Hats off to Gordon Brown who according to this morning's Times

used shock tactics to win support for a tough G8 statement refusing to recognise Mr Mugabe's rule. He was said to have pulled fellow leaders aside to show them a horrific photograph of a driver for Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change who was brutally murdered last month. He told them that every day the world failed to act, similar tragedies would follow.
The G8 members Russia and Italy dropped their opposition to sanctions, breaking with the African Union and China.

At least Gordon Brown will come home with something positive approved.

That menu in full

Another own goal by the Prime Minister who yesterday was lecturing us about saving food.Well the media have got hold of the menu that the G8 leaders sat down to yesterday

Shortly after calling for us all to waste less food, and for an end to three-for-two deals in British supermarkets, Gordon Brown joined his fellow G8 premiers and their wives for an eight-course Marie Antoinette-style "Blessings of the Earth and the Sea Social Dinner", courtesy of the Japanese government.
The global food shortage was not evident. As the champagne flowed, the couples enjoyed 18 "higher-quality ingredients", beginning with amuse-bouche of corn stuffed with caviar, smoked salmon and sea urchin pain-surprise-style, hot onion tart and winter lily bulbs.

says the Independent

And in the same paper Dominic Lawson tells us that

There is, however, one cause of waste which is so obvious that the Government completely fails to mention it: food, by historical standards, is extraordinarily cheap. Fifty years ago, 30 per cent of the average British family budget went on food. Yet according to the report released yesterday by the Cabinet Office, entitled "Food Matters-Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century", "the average UK household now devotes around 9 per cent of its expenditure to food".
Even if these figures don't take account of the most recent spike in food prices, this represents a remarkable period of sustained real price deflation. Look again at the Prime Minister's statement: how much per week did he say that the average family loses, with all its wasted food piling up in the rubbish bins? Eight pounds. The figure is striking not for its significance, but for its marginality.

While the cat is away ?(in Japan)

First Post's Mole has been tunnelling around whilst the Prime Minister is in Japan and reports that

Jockeying for the Labour leadership election has already started among Gordon Brown's Cabinet ministers while the Prime Minister is in Japan for the G8 summit. One Cabinet minister has told friends: "I've even put out feelers to the Campaign Group [the left-wingers led by John McDonnell]. You never know who you might need."

There are a number of reports in the papers this morning that the Prime Minister may be on the tipping point as the Glasgow East by election approaches.

The Telegraph leads with the story that

Labour MPs have warned Gordon Brown that his future as Prime Minister will be at stake when Labour fights a crucial by-election in which the party has been forced to field its fifth choice candidate.

adding

Some MPs have told the Daily Telegraph that there would be no way back for Mr Brown if the party loses the traditional Labour stronghold in its Scottish heartland of Glasgow East

and the Indpendent is also reporting that

A senior member of Gordon Brown's government said there would be moves to replace him in September before Labour's annual conference if Labour loses the Glasgow East by-election or the party remains in the opinion poll doldrums.

Back to the Mole who relays that

There is a serious split developing between those Labour MPs who are resigned to the party losing the next general election to the Tories, and those who don’t want to lose their jobs and will do anything to save them - including going in to tell Brown he must go

.

The slow plane to Tokyo

Do we feel sorry for the hacks that are off to Japan with the Brown entourage to report on three days of talks with the G8.

Ben Brogan is certainly not happy

For this trip, Mr Brown is using the Boeing 767 that usually carries the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. The plane is operated by a company called MLW in Dallas. The journey will be longer than you might expect, because they have to stop in Novosibirsk to refuel for an hour and a half. There are no beds, and the seats barely recline. Which matters if, as Mr Brown has decreed, the delegation must fly all day, to arrive in time for breakfast in Japan. Just when they would be going to bed back home, they will be launching on a long day of meetings. Grim.

reminding everyone that

When Mr Brown took over last year one of the first things he did was scrap the plan agreed by Tony Blair to acquire a long-range jet capable of carrying future PMs and their entourage, or Her Majesty and her bunch

And Nick Robinson points out that

The carbon footprint's not looking too good...

To the main agenda and Gordon wants food prices at the top of the list along with a climate change agenda which will he believes lead to a lower dependence on oil.

Speaking before flying out he says

The world is suffering a triple challenge – higher fuel prices, higher food prices and a credit crunch. My message to the G8 will be that instead of sidelining climate change and the development agenda, the present economic crisis means that instead of relaxing our efforts we have got to accelerate them."This agenda is not just the key to the environment and reducing poverty but the key to our economic future as well."