Miliband likely to meet Obama next Monday

It’s reported that next Monday, on his trip to Washington, Ed Miliband is likely to meet with US President Barack Obama.

Although Miliband has met with the US President before, this is his first trip to Washington as leader of the opposition, and it looks like he’ll be welcomed into the White House.

Miliband already has relatively strong links with the world of US politics. David Axelrod – who is overseeing Miliband’s election campaign – is a former Senior Advisor to Obama and Miliband’s “organsising guru” Arnie Graf once mentored Obama.

But as we wrote over the weekend, when rumours first emerged that Miliband was pushing for a meeting with Obama, this high-profile meeting might be beneficial for the Labour leader. Interacting with one of the world’s most powerful politicians could help him to convince the public that he is more than capable of acting as British Prime Minister. Orchestrating a meetint with the US President isn’t necessarily a new move for opposition leaders to make; David Cameron met then US President George W. Bush in 2008, and Blair and Clinton were close before the former was elected as PM in 1997.

It’s said that the two politicians will most likely discuss the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan because if Labour wins the next general election, it will be Miliband’s government that will oversee this.

We’ll let you know what happens if/when the two meet.