Buttoned-up Brown plays it straight as Bush extols his great British virtues

George Bush, expert diviner of global statesmen from Nouri al-Maliki to Vladimir Putin, peered into the soul of Gordon Brown yesterday and found it good. In fact, Mr Bush would have us believe, very good indeed.

"He is a principled man who really wants to get something done," the President gushed at the press conference wrapping up the now-traditional pilgrimage of a freshly minted British prime minister to the bucolic charms of Camp David, where a day or two among the log cabins of the President's retreat reveals a man's mettle. A moment later, Mr Bush was at it again. "You've proved your worthiness as a leader," he said (apropos, it seemed, of Mr Brown's education policies). "I thank you for that vision." By the end, the President was in full flow, extolling "Great British values" (or should that be 'great British values?") and referring to his guest as "Gordon" at least three times.

Related articles

• Mary Dejevsky: The days of the first ladies are numbered
• Leading Article: Straight talk; and an interesting soundbite
• Britain will take troops out of Iraq regardless of US, says PM
• Brown urges renewed efforts on global development plan
• Steve Richards: Forget George Bush and America - the big foreign policy challenge for Brown is Europe
• Search the news archive for more stories

A two-hour tête-à-tête dinner had shown him that Mr Brown was not the "dour, awkward Scotsman, but the humorous Scotsman". Far from looking always on the gloomy side of things, the Prime Minister was a "glass-half-full man". He was also a man who had encountered "unspeakable" family tragedy. Yet the loss of an infant child "instead of weakening his soul, strengthened his soul".

For fans of the "special relationship" there was a special treat. The relationship with the UK was the most important bilateral relationship of the US, Mr Bush observed - a remark that may come back to haunt him the next time he meets the leaders of China, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Russia, to name but four other key partners of Washington.

Britain and the US had massive trade and economic links. They had both been attacked by terrorists. They had common interests throughout the world. Above all they both believed in the same basic things, freedom and justice, he said (cue for a trademark Bush riff on how freedom "is a gift to each woman, man and child on the face of the Earth").

But was everything quite so picture perfect? The dress spoke otherwise. At his debut "Colgate" summit here with Mr Bush, Tony Blair cavorted in a shirt and sweater, and a pair of "ball-crushingly tight, dark-blue corduroys", in the words of the Great British ambassador of the day. Even starchy types such as Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan have entered the spirit of things, donning slacks and dropping the tie.

Not so Gordon, in the same dark suit he might have worn as Chancellor at a Guildhall banquet. He also did not refer to Mr Bush as "George", preferring the more distant "Mr President". Unusually too for Mr Bush, who prides himself on clockwork punctuality, the press conference began 20 minutes late. Had unexpected disagreements cropped up?

Perish the thought. "I found him resolved and firm and understanding," Mr Bush enthused, noting that the Prime Minister had barely entered office before having to cope with a terrorist incident - "and he handled it well".

And, it must be said, he handled his first visit to Camp David pretty well too. But it may not always be so easy.