Bush to keep distance from protests on London trip

11.45am

WASHINGTON - United States President George W Bush, who leaves Tuesday for a state visit to Britain where he is deeply unpopular, may hear few of the shouts of anti-war protesters who will pour into London's streets to vent anger at his policies.

When the president and his wife, Laura, touch down at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday evening, they will be whisked to Buckingham Palace and largely kept in what he himself describes as a security-enclosed bubble -- cut off from activity in the rest of the city.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Bush said he had no concerns about the protests expected in London and added that he was "glad to be going to a free country where people are allowed to protest".

"I'm not concerned about my trip to London. I'm really looking forward to it ... I look forward to my consultations with (Prime Minister) Tony Blair," Bush said.

Amid warnings of a possible al Qaeda attack, the White House is said to have insisted on extremely careful precautions and such events as the traditional horse-drawn carriage ride with Queen Elizabeth will not be part of the trip.

Nor will Bush address Parliament. To do so might have invited a public relations disaster as Bush likely would have faced a similar spectacle to the one he endured in Australia when his speech to parliament was twice interrupted by heckling.

Instead, Bush's itinerary includes a banquet with the Queen, a speech on the transatlantic alliance at Whitehall Palace, meetings with British soldiers and their families and an event on HIV/Aids.

Lamenting the constraints of moving around with a large entourage, Bush last week told British journalists, "I travel in somewhat of a bubble".

He was explaining why the last day of his trip, when he will tour the countryside in Blair's home district, will be a refreshing change of pace.

But analysts said the bubble in which Bush travels will serve him well politically.

It will spare him from such embarrassments as being photographed in the same frame as placards protesting his policies and demonstrators tearing down his effigy in imitation of the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad.

Political analyst Larry Sabato said that many American voters may tend to shrug off Bush's unpopularity in London.

But to the extent that the protests there of his Iraq policies underscore rising doubts domestically about the mission, it is helpful for Bush to keep his distance from the demonstrations.

"That's the only way to do it," Sabato said.

The trip will be the first state visit to Britain by an American president since Ronald Reagan in 1982.

In previewing it, White House aides described it as an opportunity to highlight the special relationship American has with Britain, its closest ally.

But neither the historic bonds between the two countries nor the ties forged between Bush and Blair have done much to help allay the antipathy many Britons feel toward the US president.

That antipathy has grown with the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- a main justification for the war -- and mounting guerrilla attacks there.

A poll published by Britain's Sunday Times showed that 37 per cent of those questioned thought Bush was "stupid," while 60 per cent called him a threat to world peace.

Asked about his lack of popularity abroad, Bush said he had not paid much attention to it.

"And I fully understand not everybody is going to agree with the decisions I've made," he said, lauding Britain for having an open society that allowed such free expression.

- REUTERS

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