UK press tells U.S. leader to 'Bush off'

LONDON, England (CNN) -- There were no fond farewells from the British media as U.S. President George W. Bush made his final stop on his last European tour before leaving office, with several papers using the occasion for a damning assessment of his legacy.

The left-leaning tabloid Daily Mirror's greeting to the two-term leader was an emphatic: "Bush off!" to the man it described as "one of the worst American presidents in history."

"It is goodbye and good riddance to George W. Bush," the paper writes. "His shameful legacy can be summed up in just one word: Iraq."

The Guardian looked at Bush's final trip with a palpable sense of relief, headlining its commentary: "Goodbye to all that."

"The mere prospect of Mr Bush's departure is enough to lift spirits," it said before delivering a withering assessment of his final days in office.

"The president's valedictory tour of Europe, just like his recent tour of the Middle East, is a reminder of just how much his personal authority has shrunk," it said.

The right-wing Daily Mail newspaper used photographs to send its message to the president ahead of talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown that are likely to focus on Iraq.

The paper juxtaposed a picture of the president's plane on the tarmac shortly after arriving at London's Heathrow airport alongside another strikingly similar image of another aircraft, this one carrying the bodies of five British paratroopers back from Afghanistan.

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