No jokes from Brown, plenty from Barack Obama

There is no record of any good jokes emanating from 10 Downing Street over the weekend: the combination of 'Bigot-gate' and a series of opinion polls putting Labour in third place have clearly not inspired a sense of humour in the Gordon Brown camp.

But in Washington, Barack Obama was on rollicking form for the White House correspondents' dinner, his joke writers apparently having worked overtime to make the annual event go with a swing, despite low approval ratings compared with this time last year.

The dinner saw the cream of the US media mixing with a galaxy of showbusiness stars, including Hollywood veterans Michael Douglas and Steven Spielberg and, at the other end of the spectrum, the boy band the Jonas Brothers.

Said Obama: "Jonas Brothers are here; they're out there somewhere. Sasha and Melia [the President's daughters] are huge fans but boys, don't get any ideas. Two words for you: Predator drones. You will never see it coming."

He made fun of his vice-president, Joe Biden, who, like Gordon Brown, is prone to "live mic" gaffes - his most recent coming when he whispered in Obama's ear, overheard by the US networks, that the healthcare reform bill was a "a big fucking deal".

Said Obama: "I wasn't sure I should actually come tonight," alluding to the national emergency over the oil slick threatening Louisiana. "Biden talked me into it. He leaned over to me and said, 'Mr President, this is no ordinary dinner; this is a big bleeping meal'."

The biggest laugh came when he spoke of a confrontation between his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, well known to the White House press corps for his fiery temperament, and Eric Massa, the Democrat who resigned from the House of Representatives in March following allegations of groping a male colleague.

Said Obama: "Apparently Massa claimed that Rahm came up to him one day in the House locker-room, stark naked, started screaming obscenities at him. To which I say, 'Welcome to my world'." ·