Gordon Brown's attempts to portray himself as a global leader in a time of crisis have been dealt a blow by White House planners - and Washington's worst snowstorm in years.

Downing Street officials discovered last night that Prime Minister would not, as had been widely reported, hold a joint press conference with President Obama after their talks at the White House today.

Instead, the White House press office announced what it called a "pool spray" - a few shouted questions from selected agency reporters as the two men sat down for talks and photographers clicked away.

After representations from British diplomats, it was agreed to hold open it up more widely and allow a total of four questions - two from each side - at a "press availability" in the Oval Office after the talks.

British officials, denying any deliberate snub, said that a slightly more formal event planned in the Rose Garden after the meeting had been cancelled because the grounds of the White House are blanketed in snow.

After a working lunch with Mr Brown, Mr Obama will then head off to make a speech at the Department of the Interior before meeting a delegation at the Boy Scouts of America, the White House said. If Mr Brown wanted to hold a press conference, he would have to do so across town at the British Embassy.

No 10 had been celebrating a diplomatic success in ensuring that Mr Brown becomes the first European leader received by Mr Obama in the White House – an honour closely sought by President Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the Germany Chancellor.

Although Mr Obama is by no means as anglophile as his predecessors – he has already returned a bust of Winston Churchill that sat in the Oval Office under President Bush – Mr Brown is hoping to be able to demonstrate a "special partnership" between Britain and the United States.

He is also hoping to use the meeting to give impetus to a G20 summit in London next month from which he wants to see a common strategy to tackle the global recession.

Mr Brown's predecessor and long-time rival, Tony Blair was routinely accorded the honour of a joint press conference during official visits in both the Clinton and Bush eras. Indeed, with the diplomatic groundwork completed in advance, the main point of such visits is the chance to appear side-by-side with the most powerful man in the world in front of your national flag.

To add insult to injury, Mr Blair appeared with Mr Obama at a "national prayer breakfast" in Washington last month at which Mr Obama praised him as "my very good friend". There is now unlikely to be any such endorsement of Mr Brown during the current visit.

Tomorrow Mr Brown will become only the fifth British prime minister to address both houses of Congress after Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher and Mr Blair.

Times Recommends

• Postmen: We bind the nation together
• Tewkesbury: when the memories flood back
• Cast Offs actress: I’m happy that my face fits