This is just unbelievable.
It is traditional for world leaders to exchange gifts when they visit one another.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was the first European leader to visit Barack Hussein Obama in the White House.
Here is what Prime Minister Brown presented to Barack Hussein Obama:
_ a pen holder made from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa.
_ a framed commissioning paper for HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria. It is the sister ship of the HMS Gannet.
_ a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, whose World War II partnership with President Franklin Roosevelt symbolized the U.S.-Anglo alliance.
_ and for the Obama kids: an outfit for each from Topshop, a British chain of clothing stores, and six children's books by British authors which have yet to be published in the U.S.
Here's what PM Brown received from Barack Hussein Obama:
_ a 'special collection' of 25 'classic' Hollywood film DVDs;
(and do we know if they were even region 2 versions? Because you know region 1 versions will not play across the pond)
and for PM Brown's two boys:
_ toy helicopters modeled after Marine One. (like the ones that may be purchased in the WH gift shop )
And here is the icing on the cake, the butter on the scone ...
From the British Sunday Telegraph:
A British official conceded that the furor surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. ..."A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn't quite understand the British concerns and didn't get what that was all about."
... a State Department official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment."
Read all about it HERE
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