# Does the British Prime Minister reall walk around with out body gaurd or security? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071 "2012-06-13T21:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/1 "2012-06-13T21:53:15Z")
Reading about the latest mishap in which the British PM and his wife left their 8yo daughter at a pub, has me seriously confused. So these guys just walk the streets like regular citizens? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/2 "2012-06-13T22:01:15Z")
No, they have security with them. IIRC this cock-up was caused in part _because of_ the security arrangements: Dave left the pub in a car with his bodyguards, his wife left separately, and each thought the little girl was with the other. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/3 "2012-06-13T22:14:32Z")
They try publicity stunts on occasion, such as cycling to work, but yeah they’re as covered by the Men in Black as any other bigwig is. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/4 "2012-06-13T22:25:52Z")
I remember the assassination of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister, who was killed about 26 years ago while walking home from the movies with his wife without any bodyguards. It was a little surprising, because I am used to the extreme security around the American president. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/5 "2012-06-13T22:55:48Z")
They have discrete plains clothed police with then at all times, but we don’t go for the army of black suited men with sunglasses and armoured vehicles and cavalcades of black cars and police motorbikes like you guys do. The trappings of royalty would be a sure way to lose an election. They work very hard to appear like ordinary people (they’re not very good at it, but that’s the image they try to portray). The security is there, but it’s designed to be inconspicuous instead of intimidating. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/6 "2012-06-13T23:01:58Z")
Children in pubs? A child _abandoned_ in a pub? Sigh: ‘Broken Britain’ personified. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/7 "2012-06-13T23:07:55Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Children in pubs? A child _abandoned_ in a pub? > > Sigh: ‘Broken Britain’ personified. Are you kidding me? ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/8 "2012-06-14T00:44:57Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Children in pubs? A child _abandoned_ in a pub? > > Sigh: ‘Broken Britain’ personified. It wasn’t a strip club or something! Why shouldn’t they have their kids in a pub? I used to sit at the bar with my parents and enjoy a kiddy cocktail. It wasn’t rowdy, they didn’t take me late at night, and no one in there acted improperly at all. Also, their daughter wasn’t really abandoned. I think they were there with some friends and the children of the friends, the Cameron girl went tothe bathroom, and while she was gone the group got into their cars and went to the Camerons’ home. ---
**Author:** ![Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/9 "2012-06-14T01:29:27Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Children in pubs? A child _abandoned_ in a pub? > > Sigh: ‘Broken Britain’ personified. Pubs in Britain are not like Bars in The States. Many Pubs are designed for, and encourage, family’s. Others, not so much. But it is normally easy to tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/10 "2012-06-14T01:42:55Z")
Outside the big cities, America also commonly has bars where children are welcome. People just know the difference between a “family” bar and a singles bar. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/11 "2012-06-14T06:35:08Z")
**Pretty Vacant** , I didn’t truly laugh, but I did enjoy a small smile, if that makes you feel any better. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/12 "2012-06-14T06:45:41Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > The security is there, but it’s designed to be inconspicuous instead of intimidating. That’s one of those general trends in “Americans (in this case, almost in the continental sense)” vs “rest of the world”, apparently. Spanish security firms say visitors from the US and much of Latin America want bodyguards who look “like dance club gorillas, the bigger the better”; most other people prefer them to look as ordinary as possible (being able to meld with walls is something for which they’d pay a plus). ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/13 "2012-06-14T07:51:07Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > They have discrete plains clothed police with then at all times, but we don’t go for the army of black suited men with sunglasses and armoured vehicles and cavalcades of black cars and police motorbikes like you guys do. The trappings of royalty would be a sure way to lose an election. They work very hard to appear like ordinary people (they’re not very good at it, but that’s the image they try to portray). This. I used to regularly catch a tube (metro) home from work and share a carriage with the [former Mayor of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone) (when he was in office). He was very obviously alone and everyone just ignored him in a ‘I’m British and therefore way too cool to draw attention to a celebrity’ kinda way. I’ve also seen the [current Mayor](http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor)on his bike, also clearly alone. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/14 "2012-06-14T07:53:40Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Children in pubs? A child _abandoned_ in a pub? > > Sigh: ‘Broken Britain’ personified. Many pubs are more like casual restaurants, with kids menus and games on hand. Many countryside pubs have large gardens with children’s play areas. These establishments aren’t hard drinking nightclubs. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/15 "2012-06-14T08:02:31Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > This. I used to regularly catch a tube (metro) home from work and share a carriage with the [former Mayor of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone) (when he was in office). He was very obviously alone and everyone just ignored him in a ‘I’m British and therefore way too cool to draw attention to a celebrity’ kinda way. I’ve also seen the [current Mayor](http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor)on his bike, also clearly alone. The mayor of New York City often takes the subway to work, too. It’s a tradition. I’m pretty sure he has bodyguards, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/16 "2012-06-14T09:02:19Z")
A large part of this is that the rest of the developed world doesn’t have the crazy gun laws, so the rest of the developed world has a lot less to fear from crazed gunmen. Which isn’t to say that there are _no_ crazed gunmen outside the US, just that they’re a lot rarer. I suspect many Americans don’t grasp just how _rare_ gun crime actually is outside the USA. Since the chance of encountering a gun-wielding assassin is a lot lower outside the USA, public figures can get by with less, and less obvious, security. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/17 "2012-06-14T10:09:01Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > A large part of this is that the rest of the developed world doesn’t have the crazy gun laws, so the rest of the developed world has a lot less to fear from crazed gunmen. > > Which isn’t to say that there are _no_ crazed gunmen outside the US, just that they’re a lot rarer. I suspect many Americans don’t grasp just how _rare_ gun crime actually is outside the USA. Since the chance of encountering a gun-wielding assassin is a lot lower outside the USA, public figures can get by with less, and less obvious, security. Anna Lindh says that guns have bog all to do with it. > **[Anna Lindh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Lindh)** > > Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish politician and lawyer. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her death. She was also a Member of the Riksdag (member of parliament) for Södermanland County until her assassination. > On 10 September 2003, four days before a referendum on replacing the Swedish krona with the euro as currency, Lindh was stabbed by Mijailo Mijailović at the NK department stor... ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/18 "2012-06-14T10:13:14Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Many pubs are more like casual restaurants, with kids menus and games on hand. Many countryside pubs have large gardens with children’s play areas. These establishments aren’t hard drinking nightclubs. Yes. Go into just about any British pub during the day at the weekend or in school holidays and there will be lots of children there, with their parents. (My daughter’s not even 10 months old yet and she’s been to most of my locals!) The only exceptions are likely to be the old-fashioned single-room pubs full of old men, which don’t serve food, and even then if you called in for a drink with a well-behaved child or two you’d probably be quite welcome. Also note that in many pubs there is a separate bar area in which children (usually those under 14) are not permitted, but that’s more of an informal rule of etiquette than a hard and fast legal rule. The sort of drinking den that you wouldn’t want to take children to is not usually referred to as a “pub”. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/19 "2012-06-14T10:32:14Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The sort of drinking den that you wouldn’t want to take children to is not usually referred to as a “pub”. What is it referred to? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071/20 "2012-06-14T10:35:38Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What is it referred to? A bar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-prime-minister-reall-walk-around-with-out-body-gaurd-or-security/625071.md?page=2)