Picking an enthusiast like Dr Cline also could suggest that climate was being taken seriously by the Copenhagen process.

ECONOMIST: The debate over global warming is getting rancorous

Ahead of the podcast - which No 10 had suggested would be published on Monday - Mr Brown used a video link from his Kirkcaldy constituency to tell a gathering of UK Copenhagen campaigners that he and Mr Miliband wanted the UN process reformed.

BBC: Copenhagen climate summit held to ransom - Gordon Brown

Cutajar is serving as chair of one of the key negotiating groups in the UN process that we hope will produce a bold new climate agreement in December in Copenhagen.

UN: Secretary-General

That process may be spurred by local anger at how politicians have lived it up in Copenhagen, the Danish capital.

ECONOMIST: Decolonising the Arctic