Canada risks being pulled into a growing controversy over UN hopes for a global conference on Myanmar after privately hosting a luncheon for mainly western ambassadors who included organizing such an event in their talks.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday an emergency UN summit would take place in Asia, but his office later played down the comment by saying he was actually referring to a gathering by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But it also emerged Thursday a senior British official had proposed ways to get a UN gathering off the ground when Canadian ambassador John McNee quietly received the ambassadors of the United States, Japan and other leading western powers the day before.

The British hope a planned UN visit next week by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband can serve as a catalyst to organize some sort of meeting at the world body, said people familiar with what was discussed.

But the British are also worried about being accused by the reclusive Myanmar government of pushing a political agenda supposedly aimed at toppling it.

Brown's office said Thursday the British PM had -- when he spoke publicly of the emergency summit -- merely been lending his support to a conference proposal made the day before by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The diplomatic manoeuvring is taking place against the backdrop of intense western efforts to increase pressure on Myanmar's military rulers to admit more aid to help two million people in dire need after Cyclone Nargis hit two weeks ago.

UN emergency services co-ordinator John Holmes told guests at the Canadian-hosted luncheon that increasing amounts of aid were arriving, but no one knew how much was reaching the people most in need, said those privy to the meeting.

Holmes plans to travel to the country in the coming days to seek access for aid workers.

The Japanese ambassador told the luncheon that even his country's emperor had written to the Myanmar junta to ask that it allow in more help.

Other ambassadors present included those of the European Commission, Australia and Finland.

Absent from the discussions, it is said, was talk of applying the "responsibility to protect" principle, which a number of opposition and other commentators have been proposing -- and which could involve using force to deliver aid.

   "The best way to get aid to the people of Burma is (to) make sure that we can work with the government of Burma to get it through," Brown said during his monthly news conference in London. "Everybody agrees ... the best way ... is to pressure the Burmese government," he added.

The UN says some 27 flights have delivered aid and another 32 are planned. A Canadian Forces cargo plane with 40 tons of relief supplies left for Thailand on Wednesday, while Canada has also set aside $2 million in aid for the Burmese Red Crescent Society.

The cyclone and its aftermath has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, but officials fear a greater death toll from disease.

BYLINE: Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service