14,000 police officers swamp London for Bush visit

Up to 14,000 officers are expected to be on duty in London during President Bush's three-day state visit – the first by a US president since Woodrow Wilson in 1918.

The UK security cordon will also be supplemented by hundreds of US secret service agents when the president arrives tomorrow morning.

Despite the continued imposition of huge tariffs on UK steel exports to the US and problems associated with the incarceration of British citizens at Guantanamo Bay, Downing Street has said that it was "absolutely the right time" for the visit.

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson said that the visit would demonstrate the "depth and breadth of the relationship between our two countries".

According to the itinerary, the President and the First Lady arrive tomorrow evening and will attend a private welcome by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

On Wednesday, there will be a formal welcoming ceremony at the Palace, followed by meetings with Michael Howard, followed by Charles Kennedy.

Later in the day, Mr Bush will meet with British families who lost loved ones on September 11 2001, before attending a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

On Thursday, the President will visit the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, tour Westminster Abbey and meet with British soldiers who had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, together with their families, as well as the bereaved families of those soldiers who had been killed in Iraq.

On Friday, the President and the First Lady will attend the Queen's official farewell and then depart London for the final engagement - a tour of the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has said that when he meets with Mr Bush on Wednesday morning, he will put to him the concerns of "millions of people in this country about the war in Iraq and the tragic consequences which have followed".

He added: “I will also be raising the issue of the British citizens still held in a legal no man’s land in Guantanamo Bay.

“Many people will wish to protest about these issues when the President is here. There is absolutely no justification for violence in these protests, but peaceful demonstration is a democratic right in our country and must be allowed. There should be no repeat of the scenes during the visit of the President of China, when peaceful protesters found their activities curtailed unreasonably.”

Earlier today, Ron Kovic, a former US marine who was left paralysed during fighting in the Vietnam war, led a delegation of 'Stop Bu$h' protestors to Downing Street.

Mr Kovic, whose autobiography was the basis of the film Born On The Fourth of July, handed over a 100,000-signature petition demanding that Mr Bush's visit be called off. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour Party MP George Galloway also joined the protest.

(gmcg)