AS LONG AS HE DOESN'T SHOW UP IN BLACKFACE:

Gordon Brown pictured having make-up applied before Barack Obama meeting (Jon Swaine, 03 Mar 2009, Daily Telegraph

A quick-witted photographer captured Mr Brown having his face powdered shortly before exiting the British Airways jet that took him to the US capital on Monday.

It comes almost a year after Mr Brown was pictured with a large orange blob of make-up on his forehead at a Progressive Governance Summit in London.

Mr Brown had sought to distance himself from the image-conscious style of his predecessor, Tony Blair, who was in 1997 filmed wearing thick make-up as he responded to claims Labour had taken an improper donation from Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One racing.