G20 leaders are going to reshoot their traditional family photo here in London because the first photo was taken while Stephen Harper was out of the room and therefore "out of the picture."

Harper's press secretary says that after the working session this morning the Prime Minister was pulled aside by his officials who wanted to update him on the latest draft of the leaders' communique to be released later this afternoon. The briefing wasn't brief enough, and so Harper was late for the photo op and missed it.

At least that's their story.

BBC TV has a different story. Their economics correspondent is reporting that the Canadian Prime Minister missed the family photo because he was "in the loo". The BBC says its source is an official in the British delegation who indicated that Harper, in the BBC's words, "was having a comfort break during the photo op."

The PMO says it is sticking to its story, has tracked down the BBC reporter to straighten her out, and expects a correction. A subsequent BBC story made no mention of the comfort break and reported merely that Harper was called aside by an aide when he missed the first photo.

— Keith Boag