Protests show vigour of free speech, jokes Bush

US President George Bush acknowledged the hostility his visit has sparked among many Britons with a note of self-deprecating humour in his keynote speech in London today.

Some of those demonstrating against his presence in the UK would have preferred him to be housed in a glass box over the Thames, like American magician David Blaine, than in Buckingham Palace, he joked.

But he said that the protests were a sign of vigour of the shared British and American tradition of free speech.

And, in a pointed message to opponents of the war in Iraq, he said that a similar right to free speech now existed in Baghdad.

Opening his address at the Banqueting House on Whitehall, Mr Bush said: “It was pointed out to me that the last noted American to visit London stayed in a glass box dangling over the Thames.

“A few might have been happy to provide similar arrangements for me.

“I thank Her Majesty the Queen for interceding. We are honoured to be staying at her house.”

Mr Bush said any American visitor to Britain would notice similarities between the two nations.

“I notice the tradition of free speech exercised with enthusiasm is alive and well here in London,” he said, to loud laughter.

“We have that at home too. They now have that right in Baghdad as well.”