Gordon Brown has held talks with incoming US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in America.

The chancellor’s meeting with Rice, who is a close ally of President Bush, comes as part of a six day trip to the United States which has been aimed at laying out the priorities for the UK's presidency of the G8, the group of eight leading industrialised nations, which starts in January.

Brown’s time in America has included meetings with John Snow, the US treasury secretary, and he will meet with Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, on Tuesday.

He also addressed the Council of Foreign Relations, a think-tank set up to increase America's understanding of the world.

But his meeting with Rice, who will be responsible solely for foreign affairs, is unusual because chancellors do not normally stray so far from beyond their economic portfolio.

An ally of the chancellor told the FT 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.

"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."