He added: "I bring something new to the table.
You could imagine the chilly atmosphere at the breakfast table, the prime minister is said to have remarked to friends afterwards.
Rebel commanders are seeking assurances from Washington that if they sign a peace deal with the Colombian government, the United States will not be an obstacle to implementing agreements reached at the table.
A handful of luxury tents were grouped around a central area covered in rugs and cushions; a laden dinner table was set to one side.
The UN is not the obvious forum for discussing debt restructuring: unlike the International Monetary Fund, it is not a lender of last resort with emergency cash to disburse, and doesn't have a seat around the table when countries have to go to their creditors to ask for help.
The prime minister will be unable to table his demands for the repatriation of powers before the next election because Clegg has dismissed this strategy as "a false promise wrapped in a union jack".
The Rams are now unbeaten in 10 league games while Blackpool remain rooted to the foot of the table with one win all season.
Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary, also appealed to unionist leaders to return to the negotiating table over controversial parades, the flying of flags and the legacy of Ulster's violent past.
Given the diversity around your average dinner table, it would be extraordinarily difficult to come up with a joke that everyone found funny.
With only an outline sketch of an agreement on the table, many of Europe's most senior policymakers are of the opinion that a crisis point will be reached and that Athens's radical left Syriza government will be forced to either capitulate to Brussels or quit the euro.
McDonald's seems to sit at an emptying table in the middle.
