Difficulties at home and abroad mean the President needs this visit to go well

The last time George Bush dined with the Queen he did so wearing embroidered cowboy boots.

The White House has yet to reveal the President's likely choice of footwear for tomorrow night's State banquet at Buckingham Palace but the President is aware that this time around the world will be watching even more intently - and not just his feet. President Bush arrives in London as the leader of the world's only superpower but with growing questions about the way he has used his country's extraordinary military might, in particular in the preemptive strike he ordered against Iraq. His critics have been loudest outside the US but across America voters are increasingly doubtful about Mr Bush's ability to deal with the violent and chaotic situation in the country his troops now occupy.

For the first time, polls show that a majority of people are unhappy with the President's performance. A Gallup poll published a fortnight ago by USA Today, suggests that 54 per cent "disapprove" of the performance of Mr Bush in regard to Iraq. In April, when the regime of Saddam Hussein was ousted, 76 per cent said they were happy with the Commander-in-Chief.

There are several reasons for this. Mr Bush has failed to build an international coalition to support the US occupation in Iraq either financially or with troops. While senior US officials like to point to a "coalition of the willing" made up of around 40 nations that have provided troops or police officers, the reality is that America provides 130,000 of the total 154,000 troops currently in Iraq.

There is also the growing toll on US troops who come under attack 35 times a day in Iraq. It is not just the 400 plus fatalities: thousands of severely wounded troops have been flown home from the battlefields, many badly brain damaged or with missing limbs.

But perhaps more importantly - and of increasing concern to Mr Bush's advisers with an eye to next year's Presidential election - there is a sense that the administration is losing its way in Iraq. Rocked by the escalating number of attacks on its soldiers and apparently unable to find a way to counter the increasingly co-ordinated and organised nature of such attacks, Washington is on something of a U-turn.

Over the weekend it was announced that control of the country could be ceded to an Iraqi authority as early as next summer, enabling the Pentagon to put into place an exit strategy for its soldiers. In short, it is a long way from the triumphant, crowds-throwing-flowers scenario that Mr Bush had promised.

Facing domestic difficulties, Mr Bush might have hoped that a visit to his supposedly closest ally would have provided him with some sort of a boost. But with tens of thousands of protesters preparing to take to the streets of London, the reality is that US voters will be presented with television images of their president being heckled rather than cheered. He might as well have gone to Baghdad.

"It always hurts a president when he is abroad and it looks as though he is running from protesters," said Gary Schmidt, a former adviser to President Reagan.

Mr Bush has said he welcomes the protesters: "I don't expect everybody in the world to agree with the positions I've taken," he said last week. "I'm so pleased to be going to a country which says that people are allowed to express their minds. That's fantastic. Freedom is a beautiful thing."

Ghada Razuki, a spokeswoman for Stop the War Coalition, said: "I'd like to thank George W Bush for his kind comments. The thing is that we are being told we are not going to get anywhere near him.

"If he is so in favour of free speech then he should come and address the demonstration." Mr Bush's cowboy boot incident happened in 1992 when his father was president and when the Queen was visiting the White House.

Not only did he reveal that his boots bore the inscription "God Save the Queen" but confided that he was the "black sheep" of his family. When he asked the Queen if there were any black sheep in her family, Mr Bush's mother, Barbara, interjected: "Don't answer that!"

This time around his mother will not be there to smooth over any diplomatic blunders. More importantly Mr Bush knows that it is down to him alone to somehow try to ensure that this trip is viewed as a success, especially in the US, where it matters the most.