Barack Obama will meet Nick Clegg. President demands facetime with the DPM?

Flags are place in The Mall in preparation for Barack Obama's visit (Photo: PA_

I’m confused. On Friday, it became clear that there was no plan for Nick Clegg to hold a private meeting with Barack Obama during his state visit this week.

People who speak for Mr Clegg said at the time that this was a conscious choice by the Deputy Prime Minister. He could have asserted his right to a one-on-one as leader of the Lib Dems (Ed Miliband gets one) but had decided not to. Instead, the people said, he was happy to sit in on some of David Cameron’s meetings with POTUS.

Yet today, it’s reported that Mr Clegg will indeed sit down privately with Mr Obama. The meeting will be on Thursday morning, it’s said.

So what happened? Was Mr Clegg stung by suggestions he’d been “snubbed” by the President and decided to assert his Lib Dem claim to the meeting? Or was Mr Obama so worried that the DPM was missing from his diary that told his aides: “Get me facetime with Nick”?

I think we should be told.

UPDATE:
I have been told. Turns out there is still no Clegg-Obama private meeting. The report tagged above was apparently based on an erroneous read-out from the Cabinet Office. So ignore everything you’ve just read here. (As ever….)