Tony Brown will be meeting Gordon Brown today as the British Irish Council meets at Stormont.

The Manx Chief Minister, Tony Brown will be with other leaders at the gathering which will be graced by the new UK Prime Minister.

The council was formed as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to focus on policy areas in which the UK administrations and members, including Ireland, the UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, should cooperate.

The Manx area of expertise is tele-medicine.

There's some consternation in Guernsey where their Chief Minister Mike Torode says he is too busy after all to meet Gordon Brown – but he won’t say why. He is the only Crown Dependency leader who will not be at the British-Irish Council meeting and is sending his deputy, Stuart Falla.

By contrast, Jersey Chief Minister Frank Walker said it was "an opportunity that simply cannot be missed".

It's pointed out that even Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who has recently had a heart operation, is expected to be there.

The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to hold his first formal meeting with Mr Brown today, hosted by the North's First and Deputy First Ministers and will discuss issues like drug abuse, the environment, tourism, transport, the economy, social inclusion and minority languages.

The timing is believed to be at the behest of Ian Paisley, who didn't want to attend his first North-South Ministerial Council as First Minister until he had first done so at a British-Irish Council meeting.

Dr Paisley had complained that the North-South Council was being treated as more important than the British-Irish one.