George Bush comes to the G8 summit with posterity on his mind...

But the conservative bedrock is showing signs of shifting. The religious right has shifted on Africa in recent years, and that has been reflected in President Bush's claim to have tripled US aid to the continent, and his pledge to double it again....

President Bush's claim to have tripled aid to Africa and his promise to double that amount again is a response to that upsurge in sentiment, although his critics have questioned how well-founded those figures are. Susan Rice, President Clinton's former adviser on Africa, alleged that the real increase in African aid since 2000 had been less than 80%....

Princeton Lyman, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations pointed out that the administration spends $3.9bn (£2.2bn) a year on subsidising American cotton farmers - more than it spends on African aid.