'Big shot' Rudy Giuliani's big day out

By KIM SENGUPTA in London

On the night of September 11, having spent 17 harrowing hours on the streets of a stricken New York, Rudolph Giuliani slumped down with a new biography of his lifelong hero, Winston Churchill.

Yesterday, Giuliani stood in Churchill's cabinet war rooms in Whitehall, having just been knighted by the Queen in the same room at Buckingham Palace where Sir Winston was similarly honoured half a century ago.

He is, of course, no longer Mayor of New York, and technically just a private citizen. But Giuliani's visit to London - where the great, the good and the plain adoring flocked to meet him - had all the trappings of a fully fledged state visit.

As he left the palace with his partner, Judith Nathan, Giuliani's wave to the cheering crowd was self-consciously presidential. Throughout the day he had been asked the same question: did he intend to run for President?

His answers were deliberately oblique. His declarations of loyalty and admiration for President George W. Bush were followed by: "I am walking, not running for the Presidency", and "I will re-enter political life at some stage".

There was little doubt yesterday that Giuliani was in demand. He met Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as the Queen, was obsequiously praised by Leader of the Opposition Iain Duncan Smith while sitting in the public gallery of the House of Commons, and he met some of the most influential British and American figures in London.

Giuliani was made an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire, civil division.

The Queen told him she had watched what happened on September 11, and what he had done, on television. "I hope you have less stress in your life now," she added.

How did he cope with the adulation he was receiving?

"It beats being booed, which sometimes happens when you are Mayor of New York."

The award, he said, was for the people of New York. "I'd better say that - I know what they are like. When I walk around back in Brooklyn they'll say, 'Hey, what is this Sir stuff? You some kinda big shot?"'

Giuliani cannot be called Sir Rudolph because he is not British, but he can add KBE to his surname.

He paraphrased General Norman Schwarzkopf on whether the United States should forgive the September 11 attackers: "It is not the responsibility of the US to forgive them; it is up to God. It is the responsibility of the US to make sure that meeting takes place."

- INDEPENDENT