At the Fabian conference on the weekend Brown condemned Cameron as a lightweight and made a virtue of his grumpy seriousness. The Mirror headlined it “He blasts rival Cameron for ‘fluffy’ showbiz politics” and the Indy more soberly said ‘I’ll have nothing to do with celebrity culture,’ says Brown.

So his India trip is obviously going to be all about one thing only – the travails of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, the Celebrity Big Brother contestant in Britain. All the Indian press want to know are his views on her treatment. The Beeb reports that “Gordon Brown has become involved in the row over alleged racist bullying on Celebrity Big Brother during a visit to India. Mr Brown said the issue had been raised repeatedly during his trip.”

“Celebrity culture” loathing Brown is scheduled to visit a Bollywood film studio on the trip.