From today's Guardian (UK), "US and UK officials dread presidential trip":

The British government in public says it is delighted George Bush is visiting Britain next week. Tony Blair encapsulated this in a speech last Monday when he said: "I believe this is exactly the right time for him to come."

In the corridors of No 10 a more realistic assessment can be heard. One Downing Street insider, contemplating the visit, expressed exasperation: "That man seems to cause us no end of trouble, doesn't he?"

The list of issues is long - from the Kyoto pollution agreement through to Guantanamo and Iraq - and now added to it is the row over steel tariffs. At a Whitehall briefing it was not Iraq that topped the list of issues on the urgent agenda for the president and prime minister but the fate of British steelworkers. "A trade war will help nobody," an official said.

Nor will the protests during the presidential visit help Mr Blair or Mr Bush. The trip has turned into one that no one wants, despite what Mr Bush said yesterday. He claimed he was not upset about the prospect of protesters because "freedom is a beautiful thing". Speaking on Breakfast with Frost, he said: "So Laura and I are really looking forward to coming."

That does not square with what US officials, like their counterparts in Whitehall, are saying. One official described it as the trip from hell.

When preparations were being made months ago the expectation in Washington had been that it would be a victory trip, with Iraq relatively stable and its elusive weapons of mass destruction unearthed. What had not been anticipated was the present chaos and mounting death toll.

Mr Bush is to fly into London tomorrow evening for the first state visit since President Woodrow Wilson in 1918, whose path was strewn with roses by a people grateful for his help during the war. There will be no such public welcome for Mr Bush, and protesters will dog his path until he leaves on Friday evening.

Television footage of Mr Bush with the Queen was supposed to provide useful footage for a president seeking re-election next year. But US officials know that any royal benefit will be offset by damaging images of protests.