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15 March 2012updated 27 Sep 2015 5:36am

Oh, the memories! Cameron and Obama exchange presents

The President and the PM exchange gifts that commemorate... er, the last state visit.

By Samira Shackle

If you’ve watched the news, looked at a paper, or listened to the radio this week, you’ll be well aware that David Cameron went on a state visit to America.

And what are state visits about, if not presents? (And endless photo opportunities, of course).

Obama presented Cameron with a customised and charcoal cooking grill, complete with bean bag chairs for the children and his and her’s chef jackets. It’s not a random gift either – it is a reference to Obama’s visit to London in May last year, when the two cooked burgers for military servicemen.

Not to be outdone, Cameron presented Obama with a table tennis table – which also commemorates the last visit, when the pair played ping-pong with students. How romantic — the memories we’ve shared!

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Perhaps Obama has learned from his mistakes. In 2009, Gordon Brown gave him an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet. Its sister ship was carved to make the desk in the Oval Office. In return, Obama gave Brown a set of 25 American DVDs, which, in a tragic twist, weren’t even compatible with UK DVD players. Nothing very memorable about that.

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