The Dalai Lama arrived in London today at the start of a controversial 11-day tour of the UK.

His trip will include a meeting with Gordon Brown, but the Prime Minister has opted not to invite His Holiness to Downing Street in an apparent bid to avoid confrontation with China over Tibet.

Beijing routinely complains when foreign leaders hold meetings with the Dalai Lama, who they recently denounced as a "monster" and a "jackal in monk's robes" determined to split Tibet from China.

Mr Brown will become the first world leader to meet His Holiness since violence flared in Tibet earlier this year, although his predecessors, Tony Blair and John Major, both hosted him at Downing Street.

He will meet the spiritual leader at Lambeth Palace on Friday enabling the Prime Minister to claim to the Chinese that he is receiving the 72-year-old monk in a spiritual rather than political capacity

“Treating the Dalai Lama as only a religious leader simply ignores reality,” said Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats. “There is no reason why he should not be received at No 10 Downing St.

“Many people will conclude that the prime minister is trying to have it both ways, to see him and not offend the Chinese government.”

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, he now says he supports autonomy for the Buddhist region, but not independence.

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