Nipping down to the pub for a drink before dinner? Yes, that is exactly what Prime Minister David Cameron did with Chinese President Xi Jinping in tow. After three days of official dinners, business deals and talks, the president was given a taste of British life - a visit to a pub for a pint and fish and chips.
Cameron tweeted that he had taken the leader of the second largest economy in the world to The Plough at Cadsden, near his official residence at the Chequers, for a fish and chip supper, washed down with a pint of Green King IPA ale.
The conversation at the pub included when Cameron left behind his then eight-year-old daughter Nancy at the same pub after a family lunch in 2012. I once famously made a terrible mistake. I got into the car and I left my daughter. Ive been in here a few times but Im not leaving my family here today. She [Nancy} tells the story about her dad here in the pub. Shes coped very well, Cameron said.
Cameron and Xi ate a basket of mini fish and chips each with homemade tartar sauce during the 20 minute visit ahead of a formal dinner with their wives. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond later told journalists that the food was good stuff and the presidents only problem was the lack of salt and vinegar.
Separately, Camerons wife, Samantha gave Xis wife Peng Liyan a £550 handbag from an up-and-coming British designer Sophie Hulme. The Camerons also gave the couple a personalised crystal platter centrepiece from the Devon-based Dartington crystal, and a commemorative lunar gold coin from the Royal Mint to mark the Chinese Year of the Sheep.
President Xi will next head to Manchester on his fourth and final day in the country. His trip will also include a visit to the Manchester Citys football academy.
