D-Day: Brown’s filthy hands are all over this

The Times is reporting The White House is attempting to secure an invitation for the Queen to attend the D-Day commemorations:

The White House stirred up the embers of the embarrassing D-Day row when it said that it was trying to secure an invitation for the Queen to attend this weekend’s 65th anniversary commemorations.

Days after it seemed that the diplomatic controversy had run its course, President Obama’s spokesman said that they were working with the organisers of the events in Normandy to ensure that the Queen is invited.

Paris, which described the event as “primarily a Franco-American ceremony”, said that an invitation had been extended to the British Government and it was up to Mr Brown to decide who would attend.

Protocol dictates that the invitations to the British would come through the Government, as it Downing Street and the Foreign Office that advise the Palace on what events to attend.  The decision for HMQ to go should have been straightforward as Obama and Sarkozy are both Head of State.

Nothing is more obvious than Brown wanting to play on the world stage this weekend and share the limelight.  Clearly, he has done little since Sunday to ensure HMQ is invited.  If he had, why would The White House now intervene?  Brown knows full well that even if HMQ was now invited her attendance at such short notice would be a logistical nightmare.

This incident looks shoddy not only because HMQ is not going but also because of the unprecedented way The White House has intervened. Brown’s short-term tactical thinking are all over this.  It may inflict as much damage to his credibility as all the other sordid events he has been responsible for.