Until yesterday Malia and Sasha Obama may have been under the impression that politics is largely about cascades of balloons and jubilant crowds cheering on their nation’s leader. Then their mother brought them to Westminster.

Michelle Obama gave her children a swift tour of British democratic institutions yesterday as they were shuttled across London in an unofficial visit to Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament.

The First Lady and her daughters flew to Stansted airport in Essex from France, where they had accompanied President Obama on an official visit, in a Boeing 757 US Air Force jet. They were escorted to London in customised Chevrolets driven by US Secret Service agents.

If Mrs Obama had hoped to inject some harsh realism into her children’s lives and show them the unhappy side of political life, she could not have chosen a better time. The world of Westminster as Gordon Brown fights to preserve his leadership and MPs seek to atone for the expenses scandal is a long way from the sunny uplands of today’s US political scene.

The Obamas’ visit to Downing Street ended minutes before the Prime Minister went to face his disgruntled colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party, many of whom have called for him to resign as leader.

One of the family’s souvenirs from the Palace of Westminster was a brochure bearing the grinning face of Michael Martin — who last month became the first Speaker of the House of Commons in three centuries to be forced from office.

President Obama returned to America yesterday after an official visit to France, while his wife also took the children to tea with the Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah

Sasha, whose eighth birthday celebrations coincided with her trip to Europe, and Malia, 10, may remember Mrs Brown fondly. The last time that they saw her, when the Browns visited the White House in March, she left them each a carefully chosen set of clothes from Topshop — a present that was regarded as somewhat more personal than the plastic helicopters that the Obamas gave to Fraser and John Brown.

Katie McCormick-Lelyveld, spokeswoman for the First Lady, refused to be drawn on the presidential family’s itinerary. “The First Lady is in London with the girls but they are on private schedule,” she said. “No details will be provided.”

British authorities were similarly discreet, but it is believed that the children were taken on a tour of the clocktower that houses Big Ben, the bell that tolls over MPs and their expenses claims.

In such a tour, the children would have been invited to climb the 334 steps to the belfry, where they would hear the chimes at close quarters. They would also have had the opportunity to crank the handle that winds the clock mechanism. Teams of blue-shirted police with dogs were spotted at the base of the clocktower before the Obamas entered.

Mrs Obama was caught on camera as she left the Palace of Westminster, sitting in the back of a stretch 4x4 vehicle. An aide, sitting opposite, is seen clutching a guide to the House of Commons featuring Mr Martin dressed in full official kit. The Speaker, who will step down this month after presiding over one of the biggest political scandals in Britain for decades, is pictured sporting a gold-embroidered full-length coat and a frilly collar.

It is unclear whether the Obamas will engage in further sightseeing today, but possible destinations may include film studios and, turning to English history, one of the sites celebrating the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne.

There, they may be told of even more treacherous times in this country’s politics.

Surprise, surprise

— Kim Jong Nam, the son of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was detained at an airport in Tokyo in 2001 for travelling under a false Dominican passport. He said that he wanted to visit the Tokyo Disneyland resort and admitted paying $2,000 each for fake travel documents for him and his companions. He never reached the theme park and left the country bound for Beijing

— Joseph Stalin acquired a strange habit of impromptu visits to the Bolshoi Theatre. He would watch Glinka’s opera Ivan Susanin but never stayed to the end, always leaving during the second act after a scene that depicted the death of Polish soldiers in a forest close to Moscow

— Prince William surprised Catherine Masters, aged 109, at a care centre in Oxfordshire, after she had contacted the Royal Household about the cards she had received since her 100th birthday, all of which had depicted the Queen in the same outfit. William took tea with her and said that next year the card would be different

— King Alfred, the Anglo-Saxon ruler of Wessex, is said to have disguised himself as a minstrel to gain entry to the camp of his Danish enemy, Guthrum. He used this as an opportunity to spy on the opposition army and learn of their future plans

— Diana, Princess of Wales, once wrote: “Watching me dance is like watching an elephant”, in a letter after an unplanned dance with the Hollywood star John Travolta at a White House function in 1985. Despite the Princess’s protests the dance has been voted the most memorable of all time on screen

Tim Glanfield

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