{"id":38778,"date":"2024-07-18T11:05:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T11:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/blenheim-palace-european-summit-gets-mixed-welcome\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T11:05:56","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T11:05:56","slug":"blenheim-palace-european-summit-gets-mixed-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/blenheim-palace-european-summit-gets-mixed-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Blenheim Palace European summit gets mixed welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By\u00a0Nathan Briant,\u00a0<\/span>BBC South Online<\/span>\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Bethan Nimmo & Jono Eden,\u00a0<\/span>BBC Radio Oxford & BBC South Today<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Blenheim Palace has been closed to the public since the weekend<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Sir Keir Starmer will have an early opportunity to make a good impression with fellow European leaders at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n

He will host another 46 leaders<\/a> for the fourth European Political Community summit on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The World Heritage Site, usually a big pull to the town, has been closed since the weekend and road closures will remain until Friday.<\/p>\n

But outside the cordon in Woodstock, a stone’s throw from the palace, the summit has had a mixed reception.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Geoffrey<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Geoffrey Naf said road closures in and around Woodstock have taken their toll<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Geoffrey Naf, who runs Woodstock Butchers, predicts trade has been hit by about 50%.<\/p>\n

“A lot of my locals can\u2019t get in from the outlying villages because the roads are closed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I have had everyone asking me, ‘Are we even bothering to open on Thursday?'”<\/p>\n

He added: “Obviously, I\u2019m here, I\u2019ve got work to do and hopefully might make a few pounds over the till – but I’m not feeling very hopeful about today.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mark<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mark Harris was not happy about the summit being held at Blenheim Palace <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mark Harris, from Woodstock Grocers, said his business was set to lose between \u00a3500 and \u00a31,000 because of the summit.<\/p>\n

“People are frightened to come into Woodstock,” he said.<\/p>\n

“All the signs coming into Woodstock say avoid the area, so what shoppers are going to be here? None,” he said. <\/p>\n

Is he proud the summit is being held in Oxfordshire? <\/p>\n

“No,” he replied.<\/p>\n

“It shouldn’t be here. It should be somewhere where it’s not going to be affecting locals.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Mays welcomed the Trumps at Blenheim Palace back in July 2018<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
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Former US president Donald Trump visited Blenheim Palace, and the then prime minister Theresa May, on the first part of his first UK visit in July 2018<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But it is thought this is the most leaders the palace – famed as Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace – has hosted at the same time.<\/p>\n

Yet despite some irritation at the road closures and disruption, there is plenty of local pride and excitement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Isabelle<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Police officers were welcomed to Blenheim Palace by Isabelle Phillips’ dog Peggy<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Dog walker Isabelle Phillips had a challenging morning stroll around Woodstock.<\/p>\n

She said her dog Peggy loves officers in uniform and hi-vis jackets. <\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve been playing a little game of count the police officer to see how many we can say hello to,” she said. <\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s because the palace staff at the gates always have a tin of dog biscuits. And so anyone who is in any type of uniform, or high-vis jacket, she thinks has treats.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Janey<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Janey Velasquez said the summit will be an educational experience for children<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Janey Velasquez is a teacher at Woodstock Primary School.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m excited to see the children coming in this morning because I know there will be a lot of talk about it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re proud to be on Blenheim\u2019s doorstep – we\u2019re kind of relishing it.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s quite nice to turn on the TV and see our local landmark there; it makes us feel important.”<\/p>\n

On a personal level, getting into work was “probably easier than normal” on Thursday, she said.<\/p>\n

“The only difference was that I had a policeman at the bottom of my road and that’s never happened before. I get the bus and it was on time and empty so I’m winning.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PAPA Media <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Security was tight inside and outside Blenheim Palace on Thursday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Watching from Woodstock <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Bethan Nimmo<\/b><\/p>\n

Political reporter, BBC Radio Oxford<\/i><\/p>\n

The town is relatively quiet, apart from so many police officers. <\/p>\n

There are police officers on bikes, police officers on horses, there are armed police walking around Woodstock – which is not something you usually see.<\/p>\n

Then through the town we\u2019ve seen motorcade after motorcade to get world leaders – from Oxford Airport I imagine – straight into the palace itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ChrisChris Ratcliffe\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Police officers were patrolling the grounds of the World Heritage Site on Thursday <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Calum Miller, Bicester and Woodstock’s Lib Dem MP – who was elected earlier this month, said he was aware there was a \u201cmix\u201d of feelings about the summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware many have been inconvenienced by what\u2019s going on but it\u2019s also, I hope, a source of real pride to have all of these leaders coming to our beautiful part of Oxfordshire to meet and have some really important discussions over the course of the day,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Calum<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Calum Miller said he was aware there were different views about the summit <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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47 minutes ago By\u00a0Nathan Briant,\u00a0BBC South Online\u00a0\u2022\u00a0Bethan Nimmo & Jono Eden,\u00a0BBC Radio Oxford & BBC South Today Reuters Blenheim Palace has been closed to the public since the weekend Sir Keir Starmer will have an early opportunity to make a good impression with fellow European leaders at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. He will host another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[47],"tags":[14365,1489,1493,5967,223],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38780,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38778\/revisions\/38780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}