Over the past year, Britain has seemed to succumb to an awkward introspection. Embarrassed by the difficulties of winning in Iraq and consumed by the jockeying for position at Westminster, the Government of Gordon Brown has, by comparison with that of his predecessor, been conspicious by its absence on the world stage. On issues ranging from climate change to Nato expansion, the Middle East peace process and the atrocities in Darfur, other heads of government have made the running. Tony Blair may, in Douglas Hurd's famous phrase, have had a tendency to punch above his weight. Mr Brown has tended to punch below his. His visit to the US, for some reason scheduled so that he toils up and down the East Coast in the shadow of none other than the Pope, has only reinforced his shrunken stature.

Mr Brown's attempts on assuming office to place distance between himself and George W. Bush might have won temporary plaudits in the Labour Party, but they have made him a much more marginal figure in Washington. This is ironic because Mr Brown is a knowledgeable man and an ardent admirer of America. This week he needs to reassert the Atlanticism he holds dear.

His plight would be unsatisfactory in any circumstances. That it has coincided with the arrival of Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France (who has embraced the US as his predecessor never did), the quiet drive by Angela Merkel to restore ties that were frayed under her predecessor and now the return of Silvio Berlusconi, a man who has never hidden his admiration for all things American, compounds matters further. Europe and the United States will soon want to work intensely with each other again. Mr Brown has not positioned himself well for that moment.

He has an opportunity today to start to reverse this. He has a meeting with Mr Bush and will attempt to see as many of Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama as make themselves available to him. These three contenders for the Oval Office have each acknowledged that America's diplomacy has been flawed and want a relationship with allies that is more of a partnership than it has been perceived to be in the past eight years. This is an opportunity for Mr Brown to refocus his own endeavours and to revive Britain's reputation in America. It will only be realised, however, if he adopts a two-pronged strategy.

The first is to recognise that it is not enough to state “I'm very pro-American” when interviewed on an American television news network (as he did for a CBS programme aired on Tuesday) or to make a speech on the importance of the Atlantic alliance while at the Kennedy library in Boston (which he will do tomorrow). These are themes that have to be expressed on these shores as well and directed, particularly, to many in the Labour Party whose antipathy to Mr Bush personally is but part of a wider hostility to American values.

The second element is understanding not just what he wants from the next president but contemplating carefully what it is that he intends to offer him or her in return. Mr Brown has spoken, correctly, about the importance of breathing life into world trade talks, international co-ordination to cope with the current credit crunch and climate change, all of which require American assistance. What, though, is Mr Brown to put on the table in terms of a commitment to Iraq, containing Iran, and Nato's response to renewed Russian nationalism, where the US will be looking for support? When Mr Brown goes to Washington next time, he needs to be walking taller.