When Gordon Brown heads off on holiday next month the books packed in his suitcase will include Al Gore’s latest tome and Alan Greenspan’s The Age of Turbulence. While neither qualifies as escapist fodder, the choice of authors – a former US president and former US central banker – underlines the prime minister’s deep-seated Atlanticism.

Mr Brown has deep and long-standing connections with America, one of his holiday destinations of choice. A voracious reader of non-fiction books on US politics and economics, the prime minister has a network that encompasses old-style Republicans, as well as Democrats.