Obama to appear on Jay Leno show

Desperate times call for desperate measures. In a break with precedent, Barack Obama (pictured) is to appear on Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show, usually the preserve of Hollywood starlets, rock stars and comics, in a bid to reassure Americans about the worsening economic crisis.

While this would not be out of place during an election campaign, it is highly unusual for a sitting president to appear on an entertainment programme. Obama will be a guest on the chat show this Thursday and will use the interview to promote his budget proposal, eschewing the Washington press corps in order to reach out to a wider audience.

It will come as no surprise to media-watchers that Obama plumped for Leno. Unlike Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, who is becoming something an Ed Murrow figure with his interrogative grillings – CNBC financial pundit Jim Cramer being the latest victim - Leno is known for going easy on his guests.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that Gordon Brown is planning to butter up Obama and his wife Michelle by taking them to lunch at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver's restaurant in east London, during his visit for the G20 summit early next month.

The paper claims the Prime Minister feels that the famously unstuffy not-for-profit eaterie, which is staffed by disadvantaged teenagers, will win him brownie points with the US President. However, the stunt is far from novel. Tony Blair famously invited President Bill Clinton to dine at the then trendy chrome-and-glass Pont de la Tour near Tower Bridge soon after his election 1997.