Romney in London: Private Meetings and Public Comments on the Weather

By ASHLEY PARKER

LONDON - Before even leaving the United States, Mitt Romney said that he would not attack President Obama abroad, a position he reiterated Thursday during before a meeting with Britain's Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband.

“While I'm on foreign soil, I'm very careful not to be critical of my own government's policies,” Mr. Romney said, sidestepping an invitation to weigh in on Britain's economic policies. “I would be even more remiss if I were to be critical of any other government's policies.”

And so it went for much of the morning. Mr. Romney, who has a busy schedule of meetings planned for the day with British leaders likely to be recognizable to voters back home, avoided questions from reporters during his first two meetings - with Tony Blair, the former prime minister, and Mr. Miliband. In front of a small press pool he stuck largely to pleasantries.

With Mr. Blair, Mr. Romney commented on the weather (“warmest day of the year”) and the coming Olympic Games (“I'm looking forward to seeing at least one swimming event”).

Mr. Romney also mentioned, unprompted, the dressage horse part-owned by his wife, Ann. The mare, Rafalca, will be making an Olympic debut.

“And my wife has a horse competing in the equestrian events, in dressage,” he said. “Her horse was chosen No. 3 of all the U.S. horses, so she's very pleased to be a part of that.”

Mr. Blair, in response to Mr. Romney's question about “any favorite sporting events” that he was looking forward to attending, responded that, “The British have now become very focused on cycling… so there will be a lot of interest in that.”

After their meeting, which was closed to the press, an aide provided a broad readout: “Ahead of the governor's visit to the Middle East, they discussed the Middle East peace process, the situation in Syria, Iran and the wider region. The meeting then covered the economic challenges facing both Europe and the U.S.,” the Romney campaign said in an e-mail.

Mr. Romney was slightly more expansive in his brief chitchat before his meeting with Mr. Miliband, who began by welcoming him to London and mentioning their “shared allegiance to the Boston Red Sox, the baseball team I believe you support.”

He began again with the weather (“could not be better”), but then praised “the unique relationship” between the two nations, and talked about his eagerness to work with Britain to address challenges and developments around the globe.

“Obviously the world is a tumultuous and dangerous place and certainly in many regions in the world and we have great interests - a common effort to see greater peace and prosperity,” Mr. Romney said. “I also appreciate the work of the military of this great nation and our joint effort in Afghanistan. The people of Britain have sacrificed enormously in helping bring p eace to that nation.”

Though Mr. Miliband took questions from his British press, Mr. Romney opted not to take answer questions from his traveling press corps - but he did answer the questions directed at Mr. Miliband. When asked why Mr. Miliband took questions and Mr. Romney did not, Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman, said, “That was his choice.”

“We said we were doing a photo spray,” she said, referring to the photo opportunity before each of the closed meetings.

Mr. Romney, who arrived here Wednesday with his wife, spent most of his first day abroad adjusting to the time difference before taking Mrs. Romney out at The Wolseley - a restaurant in St. James's that describes itself on its Web site as being “in the grand European tradition.”