They are accompanied by up to 30 burly Secret Service agents and the other diners are scanned for concealed weapons. But what about our PM?
What happens when the president of the United States fancies going out for a meal? He brings a lot more burly men in black suits than our prime minister. According to the Washington Post, when the first family visit a restaurant, they eat quietly, say hello to the chef and leave a "nice, but not crazy, tip". It's the Secret Service who really go to town.
Preparations begin several hours before; a small detail conducts a walk-through with the restaurant manager and choose tables for the first family. An hour before the arrival of the president, 20 to 30 agents take up positions all over the building. At the front door, they wield electronic wands, scanning the evening's other diners for hidden weapons. In the kitchen, a Secret Service agent, who is also a trained chef, watches over the restaurant staff's every move.
The motorcade then arrives, replete with "police motorcycle and sedan escorts, armored limos, multiple black Suburbans and assorted vans, an ambulance and more police cars and motorcycles". The notice given to chosen restaurants by both presidents and prime ministers is usually very short.
"We only found out about 48 hours before," says Lee Bennett, executive chef at London's Le Pont de la Tour, where in March last year, Gordon Brown ate one of his last meals out as prime minister. Visits to the restaurant bookend the Labour years; shortly after his election in 1997, Tony Blair and wife Cherie dined with Bill and Hillary Clinton there. Bennett was surprised by "how little security Brown had. None of them were armed that I could see. Someone came round before to see where the entrances and exits were, but there was no one in the kitchen watching me cook."
Were the staff nervous? "The front-of-house didn't think too much of it, especially the staff from overseas. He's not their prime minister. I was a little put out because it was my 30th birthday and I had to cancel everything."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/27/obamas-dinner-secret-service
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