White House list omits Blair’s Burberry gift

What do you give the man who, as president of the most powerful nation on earth, has access to pretty much anything he wants? Judging by a list of gifts received by the president, just released by the White House, the most frequent answer is a cycling top. George Bush, an avid pedaller, received the somewhat prosaic gift from the Belgian and Danish prime ministers, as well as Nato's Secretary-General.

More fanciful gifts were forthcoming from further afield. Ferenc Gyuresany, the Hungarian PM, presented the president with a pair of Huszar riding boots with a leather 'W' embossed on the side with an estimated value of $935. The former Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi, an Elvis Presley fanatic, gave Bush a CD collection of 'the King's' hits; Bush had escorted Koizumi on a trip round Graceland. And from the Iraqi PM and president, came a pair of 'silver palm trees with hand-hammered trunk and finely cut palm leaves with three bunches of gold dates'.

But the most puzzling omission from the list, which only covers gifts with an estimated value above $305, was the blue Burberry jumper Tony Blair gave his friend and ally last year. Bush was famously heard thanking the former British PM for it at the G8 summit, causing Blair to simper when he said: "I know you picked it out yourself".