Leaders put on brave faces for G8 'family photo'
George Bush and Jacques Chirac both put on brave faces tonight as the G8 leaders posed for the traditional “family photo”.
While the US President was nursing injuries from a bike accident, it was his French counterpart’s pride that was hurting.
Mr Chirac arrived late at the Gleneagles gathering after staying on in Singapore to make a personal plea on behalf of Paris’s Olympic bid.
As Bob Geldof noted, London’s victory must have left him feeling “a bit glum”.
The French President already faced a difficult evening after his disparaging remarks about British cuisine were made public.
Mr Chirac brazened it out as he lined up with fellow leaders for the photo ahead of a banquet hosted by the Queen.
However, while he was wreathed in smiles as he sat next to the Queen, Mr Chirac could not quite bring himself to look at Tony Blair, whose proposals for EU reform have injected fresh venom into their relations.
Prince Philip was pressed into service as an unlikely diplomatic buffer zone between the two Presidents, who went to war over Iraq.
Mr Bush showed no signs of his collision with a policeman as he also sat smiling on the left end of the front row.
Mr Blair also took a front row position between the Queen and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was on the extreme right.
The other G8 leaders and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso were consigned to the back row.
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