What is Gordon Brown in the Gulf for - really ?

So we are told that Gordon Brown is in the Gulf to tell the Gulf Arabs to stabilise the price of oil, at a low value, and to lend yet more money to the IMF.

The oil price stuff is just naked domestic politics to win over the ignorant ( Labour's favourite type of voter). The Gulf Arabs will act in their own self interest - just as Brown keeps the cost of UK oil high with his extra taxation.

More money for the IMF ? Hardly needs the PM does it, and it should be the Americans making the point if anything is to be done.

So, apart from using his office of state for political campaigning - which Labour are always happy to do - what's going on ? For what reason do you really need the UK prime minister to go round begging in the Gulf ?

Once you put it like that the answer is clear.

Brown has gone to beg to borrow the money he needs to plunge the UK into massive debt to pay to get himself re-elected. The Treasury has already been busy designing Islamic bonds to borrow with. Of course this means that the ownership of key bits of government infrastructure will pass to our new Islamic creditors. But we can rely on Labour to keep it quiet.

Perhaps we'll see in the next few weeks if this is right.

Update: I write the above on my PDA this morning, before reading the news (honest) and of course it turns out that this is precisely what Brown has been up too. Stepping onto aircraft with his new insane sociopath grin. The BBC has of course taken the initial press releases and printed them out - without asking what is really going on.

Lets be clear this is a Labour government going to beg for money from foriegners to pay for the mess it created. Just like the 1970's. Gordon only wants more money for the IMF as he thinks he might be calling on it.

Further: The BBC spin of the afternoon on this is that Brown is on a, wait for it, "Trade mission". Lord Mandymort is there - straight from his expensive hotel rooms in Russia. Yet the BBC fails to say what Brown is selling - perhaps they know but consider it unhelpful to the projevct to mention it ?

And see Richard and Mark's monday view here for the same message in pictures.