The president and first lady leave today for England, but Bush has already started a fuss across the pond by announcing yesterday that he has cancelled his speech before the British Parliament.
When Tony Blair visited the United States in July for an official state visit, the British prime minister spoke before a joint session of Congress. When presidents Reagan and Clinton visited England during their terms in office, both addressed Parliament. Bush, meanwhile, who is personally unpopular in the U.K., has decided to skip out on his previously scheduled address. Instead, the president will deliver a speech to an “invited audience” later this week.
The British press is seizing the opportunity to mock Bush. As London’s Mirror reported yesterday, “George Bush was last night branded chicken for scrapping his speech to Parliament because he feared being heckled by anti-war MPs.”
In fact, the White House’s reasoning seems to be the root cause for the mockery. Instead of making up some clever excuse, Bush cancelled his joint address to the Commons and Lords out of concern that he may be jeered by British lawmakers.
“[Bush] would have loved to do it because it would have been a great photo-opportunity,” White House adviser Harlan Ullman told the Mirror. “But they were fearful it would to turn into a spectacle with Labour backbenchers walking out.”
Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour MP, said in response, “This is yet another slight on this country by the president of the USA. The least he could do is subject himself to questions from MPs.”
I can’t blame Bush for being intimidated by Parliament. He’s not a great speaker and he probably wouldn’t be well-received. Worse, if you’ve ever seen sessions on C-SPAN, you know that Parliament can be a pretty raucous place where the normally-reserved British aren’t afraid to taunt and boo speakers with whom they disagree.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising that Bush would back out of his earlier commitment. Yet the fact that the White House hasn’t come up with a more compelling explanation for the change makes Bush look even worse.