Gordon Brown will today meet Condoleezza Rice in America.

The chancellor is on a six-day trip to the US, and will meet Rice, who takes over from Colin Powell as secretary of state in the new year, for discussions in Washington.

The main purpose of his visit to America has been to lay out the priorities for the UK's presidency of the G8, which starts in January.

An ally of the chancellor told the FT that the meeting was not about "political positioning" and added that despite last week's reshuffle, the chancellor remains the only credible alternative to Tony Blair.

Describing Charles Clarke, and Ruth Kelly as "junior ministers", the ally said: "There's nobody else for better or for worse. Nothing that's happened in the last week has changed that one way or another.

"Gordon's been shadow chancellor since 1992. He's been doing this job for 13 years, and he's been conspicuously successful."

The ally added: "He's very well thought of in Washington. He's a powerful figure personally and he's driving this developing countries agenda. It's an important agenda for the Americans as well."