Nicolas Sarkozy to meet UK party leaders

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy will talk ahead of an EU summit in Brussels

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will hold separate talks in London later with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron.

Downing Street said Mr Brown's meeting with Mr Sarkozy would focus on the EU summit in Brussels later this month.

Meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy is expected to examine the Tory leader's position on key issues in the event of a change of UK government in the general election.

European defence is likely to be high on the agenda during their talks.

The French president and the Conservative leader last met in 2008.

The president will now be keen to gauge, privately, how far Anglo-French relations could change if Mr Cameron wins power James Robbins BBC diplomatic correspondent

With the general election just weeks away, the French leader is likely to be just as interested in hearing from the man who could replace Mr Brown in No 10 as he is the PM.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said: "The president will now be keen to gauge, privately, how far Anglo-French relations could change if Mr Cameron wins power."

The French president was widely reported to have been dismayed when Mr Cameron pulled the Conservatives out of the European People's Party - the main centre-right grouping in the European Parliament.

And the French were also dismissive of plans by the Tories to repatriate the powers from Brussels in the wake of the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which they opposed.

The EU summit in Brussels later this month is expected to be dominated by the economy.