When Gordon Brown goes to the Italy for the G8 summit on Wednesday, he will be consoled that his host is in even more trouble at home than he is.

Mr Brown and the other G8 leaders will not mention in public the scandal embroiling Silvio Berlusconi, whose wife has asked for a divorce because of his involvement with a series of young, glamorous women — but negotiators hope to capitalise on the Italian Prime Minister’s weakness and win concessions on key policies, including development aid and climate change.

Mr Brown knows that three days in Italy will have little impact on his standing at home. His chairmanship of the G20 summit in London in March won widespread international praise but there was a complete absence of a “bounce” in the polls afterwards.Close allies say, however, that he is looking forward to a week on the world stage, which begins with an Anglo-French summit in Evian on Monday.

Mr Berlusconi’s fellow leaders are unimpressed with his presidency of the G8 so far. Aid for the developing countries is a big priority for this, as for all G8s, but Italy’s performance in this area is a “total disgrace”, according to one summit planner.

It has pledged to spend 0.5 per cent of its gross national income on aid by 2010, but this figure has fallen below 0.1 per cent at present, and this year it has cut its aid programme by 56 per cent.

Mr Brown, backed by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, believes that Mr Berlusconi should be held to account for such a poor outcome and that there should be a mechanism for “naming and shaming” countries that fail to keep to their pledges on aid.

On the fringes of the G8 there are even mutterings that Italy should be threatened with the loss of its place at the world’s top table and replaced by Spain, whose aid record is improving.

Negotiators say that Mr Berlusconi is notoriously evasive on the subject. When tackled, he points to his own record of spending much of his personal wealth on Third World causes but then tries to divert the debate.

Other leaders believe that, with his reputation damaged by scandal, Mr Berlusconi knows that he has to pull something out of the fire next week to prove to his country that he is a world statesman capable of striking deals. “He is in trouble and knows it. We fully expect him to come up with something, but as of now it is hard to see what it might be,” a diplomat said.

On most of the summit issues Britain has a good story to tell. It currently has the best record on aid, with 0.6 per cent of gross income. Mr Brown has also taken the summit lead on climate change, by proposing the creation of a £60 billion international fund to help poorer countries. On the economy, he will remind the world of Britain’s action in bailing out the banks and then injecting a fiscal stimulus to the economy; moves followed by many other countries. On Iran, the biggest foreign policy issue of next week, he will be in the front line of discussion because of fears that British embassy staff in Tehran are to face trial, and the regime’s action in trying to pin the blame on Britain for internal discord.

So Mr Brown may have a better week than Mr Berlusconi. But he knows that that may count for little when he gets back.

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