A DOUBLE appeal not to wreck Condoleezza Rice's visit to Liverpool was made at a Westminster Capital of Culture party.
Merseyside MP George Howarth and Liverpool city council leader Warren Bradley insisted the American secretary of state should be made welcome.
They were speaking at a House of Commons reception giving an update on Liverpool's 2008 plans.
Mr Howarth, MP for Knowsley North and Sefton East, said he hoped Dr Rice's weekend visit to Liverpool would "not be a bitter and unwelcoming experience".
Cllr Bradley said: "I shall be supporting her in Liverpool."
Foreign secretary Jack Straw, who is hosting Ms Rice's visit to Britain, and will be with her in Liverpool, was a later guest at the Commons reception.
Earlier Mr Howarth, the presiding MP at the function, said: "The right to protest is sacred.
"What I hope people don't do is say the secretary of state is not welcome. I hope any protest will not hamper her visit."
Cllr Bradley, who will be handing a private letter to Ms Rice outlining the council's opposition to the Iraq war, said he would make his feelings known in private.
But he added: "There is a time and place to make protest."
The reception was attended by members of both the Commons and the Lords. Celebrity 2008 supporters included veteran actress Rita Tushingham and Nancy Dell'Olio, girlfriend of England football boss Sven Goran Eriksson.
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