Brown's big day

For even Mr Brown's critics would agree - perhaps grudgingly and through gritted teeth - that his management of this summit and his determination to shape its outcome have seen him at his formidable best.

Perhaps it was precisely because he was drinking in last chance saloon that Mr Brown left little to chance.

If he were to make his mark on the biggest financial crisis of modern terms, the prime minister was determined to ensure this wide-reaching G20 communique would be his legacy rather than his "boom and bust" rhetoric of the chancellorship years.

Gauging the feeling from delegations as the summit comes to end there is a distinct impression they were whipped into the yeah lobbies by a man in a hurry.

Of course, they would have found their own way there of their own accord and at their own pace, but talk of a split between the Anglo-Saxons and the Europeans proved, superficially at least, unfounded.

Presenting the communique to the massed ranks of the world's press, a bullish, confident and contented Mr Brown gave the impression he had been writing his opening remarks since he was about 14.

He said: "This is the day that world came together to fight back against the global recession. Not with words but with a plan for global recovery and reform and a timetable for its delivery.

"Our message today is clear and certain. We believe that in this new global age our prosperity is indivisible. We believe that global problems require global solutions. We believe growth to be sustained must be shared. And that trade must once again become an engine of growth."

There was genuine astonishment at the scale of the agreement. Mr Brown and other commentators were keen to point out that old foes sitting around the same table would have been unthinkable even six months ago. Agreeing terms on such far-reaching economic reform was close to a miracle.

Mr Brown's foes would counter that it was the severity of the recession that forced reform - including a war on tax havens, more transparent banking and greater trade financing - but Mr Brown was first to the podium, first to shape the agenda of the debate and first to claim authorship of a new world order.

And for an autocrat to seek and find consensus among a collection of world leaders each with their own electorate to placate shows the sort of political nous and strategy that he will need in buckets to secure his ticket for future such events.