Embarrassing snubs and protests ahead: Bush to enter eye of British storm
Posted on Monday, September 29 @ 10:11:31 EDT By Jonathon Oliver, The Adelaide Advertiser
UNITED States President George W. Bush will face a series of embarrassing snubs and potentially violent protests when he makes his first full State visit to Britain, prompting fresh humiliation for British Prime Minister Tony Blair over Iraq.
Downing Street has already begun a damage limitation exercise ahead of the planned trip in November.
Officials have vetoed proposals for Mr Bush to address Parliament, fearing he would face a mass boycott from Labour MPs.
Former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan gave speeches to MPs and peers during official visits, but undoubtedly such a move in the present climate would result in an embarrassing rejection by parliamentarians.
Lavish State banquets planned for the President at Buckingham Palace and Guildhall in London will be another source of controversy.
Traditionally these events attract the cream of the British establishment, but many politicians and celebrities are likely to turn down invitations to meet Mr Bush because he has become such an unpopular figure in Britain.
Mr Bush and First Lady Laura will stay at Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during their three-day visit. Both the White House and Downing Street are determined to keep the serious political content of the trip to a minimum. Presidential aides hope eyecatching images of Mr Bush having tea with the Queen or inspecting the guard at the Palace will divert attention from inevitable anti-war protests.
All US presidents make at least one State visit to Britain.
The popularity of Mr Bush and Mr Blair has been damaged by their decisions to go to war and a range of subsequent issues related to Iraq.
Mr Blair, confronted by the worst set of opinion polls in his six years as prime minister, vowed to fight on.
"I want to carry on doing the job until the job is done," he said.
Forty-one per cent of Mr Blair's Labour Party members polled by The Observer wanted him to step down before the next election.
Sixty-four per cent of voters polled by the News Of The World no longer trusted Mr Blair, while a Sunday Times poll showed Labour's support had fallen to 30 per cent.
About 20,000 protesters demanding the pullout of Coalition troops from Iraq marched in central London yesterday, chanting "No More War" and "Bush and Blair have got to go".
Meanwhile, the CIA has rejected allegations there were significant deficiencies in the intelligence community's ability to gather information before the war, including Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
US troops yesterday seized one of its largest cache of weapons near Tikrit, including 23 surface-to-air missiles and 453kg of plastic explosives.
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