The great Brown-Taylor controversy.

• Position: OFF THE NEWS - Gordon Brown - Brief Article

British G7 officials privately are furious with their U.S. counterparts after the most recent G7 meeting in London. The British served as host for the early February weekend gathering of finance ministry and central bank officials. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, because the Iraq war is so unpopular in Britain, had big plans to use the international gathering to launch an alternative British international proposal, not tied to the Middle East, before the upcoming U.K. elections. Brown's bold new economic idea: G7 debt relief for poor countries, paid in part through a scheme to revalue IMF and World Bank gold reserves.

It was one thing for U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow to suddenly develop a chest cold leaving him unable to attend. British officials suspected Snow's no-show may have been under orders from the White House. The G7 gathering was taking place around the same time as new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's maiden trip through European capitals. Because of...