Brown denies Obama 'snub' at UN

President Barack Obama turned down five requests from Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a meeting this week, amid tensions over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, reports here said on Thursday.

Brown's office denied the premier had been snubbed by Obama, amid reports that requests for bilateral talks at the United Nations in New York and the G20 summit in Pittsburgh had been denied.

Instead of a formal meeting, Brown and Obama held a 15-minute "walk and chat" in a kitchen at the UN headquarters as they left the building on Tuesday night, the Daily Telegraph said, citing unnamed sources.

"It is wrong for people to say that we have been relaxed about the way things have gone," a British diplomat said.

"There were five attempts to set up a meeting and none have come off."

The refusals are a blow for Brown, keen to boost his profile by appearing with Obama ahead of a general election due to be held by the middle of next year, the Guardian said.

Obama has held bilateral meetings in New York with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Downing Street said late on Wednesday any suggestion of a snub was "completely without foundation," and that the two were having a "number of meetings."

"This included a wide ranging discussion following (Tuesday) last night's climate change dinner. They will also be co-chairing an important meeting on Thursday on Pakistan and the fight against terrorism," a spokesman said.

"There will be further meetings at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh" starting Thursday, he said.

The release of the Lockerbie bomber in August sparked anger from the US administration and the US relatives of victims of the atrocity.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi is the only person convicted of the murder of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.

The former Libyan intelligence agent was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds because he has terminal prostate cancer, and received a triumphant welcome on his return to Tripoli.

Brown has insisted the decision was entirely a matter for the semi-autonomous Scottish government, and defended Britain against accusations of deal-making with oil-rich Libya over his release.