Will Miliband's White House Meeting Succeed Like Blair's Or Fail Like Kinnock's?

Will Miliband Succeed Or Fail At His 'Job Interview' With Obama?
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 24: US President Barack Obama holds a meeting with Labour leader Ed Miliband at Buckingham Palace on May 24, 2011 in London, England. The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle are in the UK for a two day State Visit at the invitation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. During the trip they will attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace and the President will address both houses of parliament at Westminster Hall. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA P
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 24: US President Barack Obama holds a meeting with Labour leader Ed Miliband at Buckingham Palace on May 24, 2011 in London, England. The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle are in the UK for a two day State Visit at the invitation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. During the trip they will attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace and the President will address both houses of parliament at Westminster Hall. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA P
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Labour leader Ed Miliband is hoping to catch Barack Obama when he is in Washington for an informal "brush-by" at the White House allowing him to bolster his foreign policy credentials in the run-up to the 2015 election.

Jonathan Powell, who organised Tony Blair's meeting with Bill Clinton before he became Prime Minister, told the BBC that such an encounter was "the nearest that a leader of an opposition gets to a job interview", adding: "It has to go right. If it goes wrong, there are very serious consequences back home."

Miliband has met Obama before when he came to London in 2011, and the US president urged him to stay positive to win the next election.

How will he do this time? We have taken a look back at recent meetings - or attempts at meeting- between leaders of the opposition and US presidents.

Fail: Neil Kinnock and Ronald Reagan

Miliband - Obama: When Leaders Of The Opposition Meet US Presidents

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