The rumour swirling around the hospitality enclosure at the Mandela concert on Friday night was that Brown charmlessly went straight in hard with talk of Zimbabwe and the Africa summit (according to a security source). Mandela turned to his wife and entourage saying he was tired and should leave almost as soon as Brown arrived to sit with him.

As the balcony was well lit for the TV cameras, concert goers could see from the floor that Brown was sat alone well before the end of the gig. Mandela was said to be exhausted, being 90 and having just delivered a speech in front of thousands. So he left Gordon.

Hence the cosy pictures of Mandela with his feet up with Dave, but none such with the Prime Mentalist…