Clinton Meets Queen in U.K.

L O N D O N, Dec. 14 -- President Bill Clinton had morning tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace today then washed it down with half a pint of beer at a blacked out pub.

With five weeks left in office, Clinton was on the last dayof a three-day trip to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain where he made a final push for peace in Northern Ireland and urged his successor George W. Bush to preserve a U.S. role in the process.

However the troubles of Northern Ireland were far from hismind when Clinton, with his wife Hillary and 20-year-olddaughter Chelsea flew to London by helicopter after spending the night with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his country estate, Chequers.

Over their cups of tea, Clinton and Mrs. Clinton chatted for 20 minutes with the queen in her ornate audience room while Chelsea joined White House aides on a tour of the palace.

Hundreds of people were outside the main gate of BuckinghamPalace as the president’s motorcade pulled inside on a crisp, sunny morning.

After the audience with the queen, the Clintons went tofamed shopping area Portobello Road to do some window shopping.

Inside a pub, the barman offered Clinton a menu and pouredhim a half pint of lager. Clinton asked him to pour only “alittle bit, not much,” because “I have to stay awake to give a speech today.”

The lights were out in the pub because the electricity hadinexplicably gone out in the area that Clinton visited. Ablazing fire provided the only light.

“Feel free to blame me,” Clinton told those in the pub,according to White House spokesman Jake Siewert. “Back homepeople try sometimes to blame the weather on me.”

A ‘Successful’ Trip

White House officials have called Clinton’s visit toIreland a success, saying the parties were committed to settling their differences and implementing the 1998 Good Friday accord.

“The challenge now is to find the way to do that,” NationalSecurity Adviser Sandy Berger told reporters in Belfast after Clinton held talks with leaders at Stormont, the building where North Ireland’s once-warring groups now openly debate their differences in a power-sharing government.