Obama flies in to fortress London | Brown urges world leaders to unite | G20 leaders, police and protesters ready as summit comes to town | Jamie Oliver cooks for the G20 | City of London braces itself | Time to reset capitalism's moral compass | Valentine Low: Sketch | Ann Treneman: Sketch

Barack Obama took centre stage last night as he arrived in London for a summit that has prompted the biggest security operation Britain has seen.

Gordon Brown will chair the G20 gathering in the London Docklands tomorrow, but President Obama will be the centre of attention at his first big international occasion.

Hundreds of police have been drafted into London to reinforce security. More than 30 forces have provided specialist officers to the Metropolitan Police for the days around the summit when there will be unprecedented levels of protests and 40 diplomatic delegations requiring security.

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Mr Brown yesterday called on fellow leaders to supply the “oxygen of confidence” to help the world out of recession. In an unusual intervention, the Pope wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to push at the summit for an “ethical” financial system and one that maintained aid for the world’s poorest nations.

While hopes of a new co-ordinated international stimulus of the world economy have faded, negotiations are proceeding on rules to curb excessive bonuses, control tax havens, extend regulation to hedge funds, introduce greater co-operation between national regulators and draw up fresh mechanisms to stop protectionism.

As he flew to Britain, Mr Obama spoke by phone with Mr Brown about elements of the package that remain to be thrashed out. However, his aides played down expectations.

The summit at the ExCeL centre in Docklands comes as the World Bank said that the global economy would shrink by 1.7 per cent this year and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted a 2.7 per cent contraction, the worst since the Second World War.

Mr Obama’s and Mr Brown’s hopes for a co-ordinated fiscal stimulus of tax cuts and state spending to boost global demand look set to run into the sand of European opposition and resistance from central bankers, including Mervyn King at the Bank of England. France confirmed that President Sarkozy may walk away from the summit if the US and Britain block his demand for a stronger global financial regulator.

A confident Mr Brown said: “You will find on Thursday at the G20 that for the first time ever the world economies will agree international rules for the remuneration of bankers.”

The Prime Minister will hold separate talks with Mr Obama and the leaders of Russia, China, Japan and India at 10 Downing Street. President Obama will have an audience with the Queen, meet the Conservative leader David Cameron and have his first meeting with President Medvedev of Russia, among many other leaders.

There are fears of violent protests marring the summit. Public order units and intelligence teams will be among thousands of police deployed in the City today for demonstrations by anarchist, environmentalist and antiwar groups.

Officers have been told to stamp out violence quickly and to expect a fluid, fast-moving situation as protesters adapt their plans and targets in an attempt to outflank police lines.

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