Had things gone as planned, Guido Mantega would have opened his interview with the Financial Times - his first exclusive interview since he became Brazil's finance minister on Tuesday - with an anecdote about his unexpected call to Brasília, received at such short notice that he and his advisers had to buy suits, shirts and ties on their way to the presidential palace.

Instead, he enters the room brandishing an FT story about murder and corruption in Brazilian politics and accuses the newspaper of falling prey to manipulation by opponents of the leftwing government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.