Brown and Cameron keep it in the UK

Prime minister Gordon Brown is planning to set a good example to Britons facing an economic slump by holidaying in the UK this year – and Tory leader David Cameron will follow suit.

Mr Brown will take his family to Southwold in Suffolk, his first break since he had to cut short last year's Dorset holiday in the face of a foot and mouth outbreak.

David Cameron will meanwhile holiday in Cornwall.

But Mr Brown's choice of destination may not simply be motivated by setting an economic example. As the second year in a row in which he was rejected the sort of high-profile glamorous location preferred by his predecessor Tony Blair, it may simply be the Brown family prefers a different kind of holiday.

Mr Blair's trips away included stays with Silvio Berlusconi, the super-rich Italian prime minister, the Barbados home of Sir Cliff Richard and the mansion owned by one of the Bee Gees.