The Daily Mail reported this morning that when Gordon Brown meets Barack Obama in the White House, he will present the president with a desk plaque as a gift. I was confused because I wasn't entirely sure what a desk plaque was. But the London Evening Standard cleared it all up for me – it's a pen holder.
At the Downing Street briefing this morning the prime minister's spokesman would not comment on the exact nature of the present. But he said it would "reflect the historic nature of the relationship between the two countries". The pen holder will apparently qualify because it's made from wood from the sister ship of HMS Resolute, whose timbers were used to make the so-called Resolute Desk, presented as a gift by Queen Victoria and still used in the Oval Office today.
