BARACK Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, has changed his position on the housing policy praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the McCain campaign said today.
Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for Mr Obama's Republican rival John McCain said Mr Brown's "coveted endorsement" was bound to highlight that Mr Obama "seems to have changed his position" last month.
Downing Street denied Conservative accusations yesterday that Mr Brown was taking sides in the US presidential election after he praised Mr Obama's proposals to help families facing repossession.
In a blog entry entitled The Coveted Gordon Brown Endorsement on the McCain-Sarah Palin campaign website (click
here to read it in full), Mr Goldfarb said: "Far be it from this campaign to underestimate the value of an endorsement from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but there is one slightly embarrassing detail that this endorsement is bound to highlight.
"According to the report, Brown's endorsement was tied to a specific policy ... 'a Foreclosure Prevention Fund to increase emergency pre-foreclosure counselling, and help families facing repossession'.
"Obama had championed a Foreclosure Prevention Fund, but sometime late last month he seems to have ... changed his position."
Mr Goldfarb said that, according to Versionista, a programme that allows the McCain-Palin campaign to track changes to Mr Obama's website, "Senator Obama quietly erased any mention of a Foreclosure Prevention Fund in late August".
He went on: "No new programme was offered in its stead.
"Whether this will cause Prime Minister Brown to rethink his support for Senator Obama remains unclear, but perhaps it will cause the press to ask a few more questions of Senator Obama and his plans to magically solve the housing crisis through higher taxes."
Writing in the Parliamentary Monitor magazine, Mr Brown said the Democrats were the party in America who were developing ideas to help people through the current economic difficulties.
He cited Mr Obama's proposals to help families facing repossession, but did not mention Republican candidate John McCain.
It was reported that a member of Mr McCain's campaign team contacted the British Embassy in Washington DC to express concern about the article.
A spokesman for the British Embassy said they did not comment on their conversations with the campaigns.
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the Prime Minister should not do anything which suggested he was taking sides, as he would have to work with whichever candidate won November's election. He called on Mr Brown to explain why he "appeared to be favouring the Democrats".
In his article, Mr Brown said that around the world "progressive" politicians were grappling with the challenges of rising food and oil prices and the changes wrought by globalisation.
He added: "In the electrifying US presidential campaign, it is the Democrats who are generating the ideas to help people through more difficult times.
"To help prevent people from losing their home, Barack Obama has proposed a Foreclosure Prevention Fund to increase emergency pre-foreclosure counselling, and help families facing repossession."
Mr Hague said: "A responsible British Prime Minister needs to be ready to work with either presidential candidate after the US election, and should neither take sides nor be seen to be taking sides.
"Gordon Brown needs to make clear why he appeared to be favouring the Democrats in this article and to explain whether this was his deliberate intention or a careless mistake."
Downing Street denied Mr Brown was taking sides in the US election.
A No 10 spokesman pointed out that Mr Brown had met Mr McCain both in London and the US this year, just as he has met Mr Obama.
"The PM is not endorsing a candidate, and never would," said the spokesman.
"As he has made clear when asked on a number of occasions, the election is a matter for the American people, and he looks forward to working closely with whoever is the next President across a range of areas of common interest.
"This was an article written ahead of the party conferences in Britain and talks about some of the measures being taken around the world by centre-left political parties to deal with the current global economic challenges."
Mr Brown welcomed Mr McCain to 10 Downing Street in March before he was nominated as Republican candidate for the presidency.
The full article contains 721 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
