"All this just for a photograph with the Queen? "

London is getting ready for the arrival of Dubya. In the Telegraph, it is written that the Queen is not amused by the Secret Service's plans for a Buckingham Palace makeover. It seems that: the Queen rejected a request from President George W. Bush's security advisers to bolster Buckingham Palace's structural defences against a terrorist attack during his state visit to Britain this week.

Senior courtiers say that the Queen was not willing to countenance "bomb and airborne assault proofing" that would have involved substantial building work at her London home...

One courtier said: "They [the Americans] wanted blast and bullet-proofed windows and curtains and some strengthening to the walls of the President's suite and other rooms at the Palace where he would be spending time. The President's security men seem obsessed with the idea of an airborne attack on the Palace.


Athough it seemed like a good idea at the time, according to the Telegraph, what ought to have been a celebratory visit to Britain by President Bush has become fraught with tension and paranoia.

Security, however, is the obsession. As the anti-war protesters prepare to fill Trafalgar Square with unflattering images of the "cowboy" President and the Downing Street "poodle", mild panic has set in behind the scenes.

Buckingham Palace security pass-holders are being ordered to go through bomb checks for the first time. Some Palace staff who have had security clearance for 30 years are undergoing positive vetting again.

"The Queen will not have to wear a security badge. I think we know what she looks like," said one Palace official. "But it is getting to that level. It is quite ridiculous."

The deteriorating relationship between the Palace and the President's security men has infuriated the Queen. When it is all over, a mighty row with the Prime Minister is on the cards.

"The Queen is annoyed to be the one having to turn down so many of the White House's requests," said a Buckingham Palace official. "Downing Street's attitude is that this is something that should be resolved between the Palace and the White House. But the fact is that the Queen is being left to negotiate a political minefield pretty much on her own.

"Officially, the invitation was made to the President in her name, but of course ultimately this came from Tony Blair. Now that it is looking as if the visit is not going to be a cakewalk, Blair is, predictably, trying to distance himself from the whole thing," said the official

As far as Dubya goes, he has simply shrugged the whole thing off. If you want to see Bush's reaction to the whole thing, there is an interview on Breakfast with Frost on the BBC.

When asked on the show what message he would give the protestors, the President said;

Freedom is a beautiful thing, I would first say ... aren't you lucky to be in a country that encourages people to speak their mind? And I value going to a country where people are free to say anything they want to say.

However, in response to this, Glenda Jackson MP, who opposed the war, told BBC One's Politics Show the visit was the "Dumb and Dumber show" .

While she said Britain was "America's closest ally for a variety of reasons," she did not agree that the government "should demonstrate that closeness by - as it seems to me - we are at the moment being permanently on our knees."