If you’ve watched the news, looked at a paper, or listened to the radio this week, you’ll be well aware that David Cameron went on a state visit to America.
And what are state visits about, if not presents? (And endless photo opportunities, of course).
Obama presented Cameron with a customised and charcoal cooking grill, complete with bean bag chairs for the children and his and her’s chef jackets. It’s not a random gift either – it is a reference to Obama’s visit to London in May last year, when the two cooked burgers for military servicemen.
Not to be outdone, Cameron presented Obama with a table tennis table – which also commemorates the last visit, when the pair played ping-pong with students. How romantic — the memories we’ve shared!
Perhaps Obama has learned from his mistakes. In 2009, Gordon Brown gave him an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet. Its sister ship was carved to make the desk in the Oval Office. In return, Obama gave Brown a set of 25 American DVDs, which, in a tragic twist, weren’t even compatible with UK DVD players. Nothing very memorable about that.