Bush flies to Britain, faces protests over Iraq, Afghanistan

---

LONDON, June 15 (AFP): US President George W. Bush arrives in Britain Sunday to take afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II, hold talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and visit Northern Ireland on his farewell European tour. But his visit is set to be marked by protests from anti-war campaigners unhappy at the reception for the architect of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and police restrictions about where and how they can make their voices heard.

Bush, who has visited Germany, Italy, The Vatican and Slovenia, touches down from Paris, where he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy and set aside previous Franco-US differences over Iraq in a display of backslapping bonhomie.

From Heathrow airport, he and his wife Laura head for nearby Windsor Castle, west of London, to meet the 82-year-old monarch and her husband Prince Philip. US Ambassador to Britain Robert Tuttle will also be present.

They then head for dinner with Brown and his wife, Sarah, amid tight security and a possible stand-off between police and protesters angry at the welcome being given to the man they call the "mass murderer-in-chief".

The Downing Street meeting, which goes into Monday before the pair head to Northern Ireland, is Brown's first meeting as prime minister with Bush on British soil.

Brown went to the US presidential retreat at Camp David outside Washington last July soon after taking over from Bush's close ally Tony Blair to reaffirm transatlantic ties. He also visited the White House in April this year.