Ed Miliband to meet Barack Obama on US visit

Labour leader Ed Miliband is to visit the White House next week where he will have a "brush-by" meeting with Barack Obama, the BBC understands.

Leaders of the opposition are rarely granted formal meetings with US presidents, by convention.

But Mr Miliband, who is giving a speech to a Washington think tank, will have an informal encounter with Obama.

David Cameron had a similar meeting with George Bush in 2008, when he was leader of the opposition.

Mr Miliband - who has met Obama before but not in an official capacity - has been lobbying hard for a meeting at the White House, as he seeks to project a more prime ministerial image.