PRESIDENT BUSH rejected strenuous efforts by the City to persuade him to attend a high-profile event in the Square Mile because he did not want to be seen in the company of financial institutions, City sources claimed last night.

President Bush was offered a 600-seat banquet at Guildhall during his state visit to Britain next week, with the surrounding City streets sealed off for security by the Corporation of London.

“His minders in the States said they were looking for pictures beamed back of him with ordinary people rather than toffs and financiers ahead of election year,” one highly placed Corporation insider said. “After Enron, WorldCom and other such disasters, Bush doesn’t want to be seen in that company.”

Officially, the Corporation, the City’s council, insists there is no anger at the apparent snub. “We’re very happy to fall in as required,” one official said. “We’re pleased when (foreign leaders) come. It’s no problem when they don’t.”

However, a state visit generally involves a formal dinner at Guildhall or Mansion House, the Lord Mayor’s official residence. Officials point out that, in logistical terms, it would have been far easier to arrange than any event in the West End because in the evening there are fewer people in bars and shops and fewer cars on the streets.

There were even approaches to Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the outgoing Secretary-General of Nato, in Brussels to involve Nato in the dinner to make it “more neutral and not financial”, the Corporation insider said. “We would have paid the bill for it. It’s not as though it falls on the taxpayer.”

A visit to the City would have been especially attractive to the American banks based there, given the close links between the London and Wall Street financial communities.