Thursday, Nov 20, 2003
Thursday, Nov 20, 2003 |
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By Hasan Suroor
But the pomp and ceremony of the official reception, led by the Queen in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, was overshadowed by numerous "Stop Bush'' protests in London, including a mock "alternative state procession'' complete with a horse-drawn open carriage occupied by a Queen look-alike and her look-alike guest. In a rare departure from tradition, there was no official state procession because of security fears and instead Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, travelled in an armour-plated limousine from their suite in the Palace, where they are staying, to the forecourt — a distance of barely 100 yards. The unprecedented security arrangements mean that Mr. Bush will hardly be seen in public during his three-day visit prompting one prominent newspaper to describe him as an "invisible visitor''. When he arrived here late on Tuesday evening, he was whisked to Buckingham Palace in a U.S. military helicopter to avoid demonstrators, and today one of his few public appearances — a meeting with the families of the British victims of the September 11 attacks — was cancelled as the American security apparently did not want to risk him being exposed to a prolonged public view. Critics likened him to a "medieval monarch'', given the size of his entourage and the scale of protection surrounding him. But for all the security precautions, it emerged that a newspaper reporter nearly got to serve breakfast to Mr. Bush's top aides this morning after he smuggled himself into the Palace posing as a footman. The Daily Mirror claimed that its reporter, Ryan Parry, managed to get a job in the Palace in the run-up to Mr. Bush's visit, using bogus references. It published photographs of the undercover reporter dressed in red livery and having a run of the Palace's private rooms including the Belgian Suite where Mr. Bush and his wife are staying. "Had I been a terrorist intent on assassinating the Queen or American President George Bush, I could have done so with absolute ease. Indeed, this morning I would have been serving breakfast to key members of his Government, including the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell,'' Mr. Parry wrote. The incident caused embarrassment but the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, insisted that neither the Queen nor the President had been in danger. In Parliament, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, again defended the visit and refused to be drawn into a controversy over the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone's denunciation of Mr. Bush. Mr. Livingstone, who said he did "not recognise'' Mr. Bush as President, has organised a reception for "everyone who is not George Bush''. The visit is virtually devoid of any substantive political discussion, with only a little over two hours earmarked for direct talks between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair on Thursday. The buzz was that controversial issues such as the U.S. tariffs on steel imports and the British prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were not likely to be resolved.
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