True, but I would be surprised if you saw them with the same kind of “intimacy” that Blair and Bush had. Nor would I expect Brown to be as uncritical as his predecessor of Washington. Whether all this would just be blustering for the cameras to reassure the public or whether it would mark a change in policy, as you say, only time will tell.

I find it hard to believe that significant movement away from alignment with the US will occur, largely because at the level of the beaurocrat we are so closely enmeshed together, this culture of enmeshment would take real effort to overcome/disable, I can't see that effort coming from a New Labour or a Tory Gov.
It was not.

Anti-Americanism is fashionable and you know what, its increasing. It is truly shocking the extant public perception have has changed in the last 10 years of the US in Britain. My own generation (mid twenties and down) have no memory of World War 2 or the struggle against the totalitarian Soviet Union and do not recollect in fondness the part the USA played in these victories. Instead we have been brought up on a diet of events like the Iraq war, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto, etc….. Whether you believe these events right or wrong is irrelevant, they have been divisive.

Agreed, but I'm not convinced that they are any more significant, or will have any more impact than Vietnam or Greenham common. The 24hr news cycle amplifies the apparent size and importance of these events (which is not to say I don't think Guantanamo and the rest are both morally indefensible and practically stupid), particularly amongst those of us who post on sites like these who presumably spend an above average amount of our lives reading, listening to and viewing the 'news'.

The US speaks English, Germany doesn't. This is a huge practical draw that the US has over other countries to the UK public, especially when we're ever increasingly monoglot.
Well you make my point here really, what opposition that exists in the press is largely unfounded scaremongering yes, and however much people in the U

The us has 4 to 5 times our economy and the only thing we get from Europe is a massive bill.

Still less than 9 or 10.

Scotland has a much better degree of representation in Parliament than England does, in terms of MP per voter, votes in some some Scottish constituencies are worth 3 or 4 times as much as mine, on top of that Scotland has its own Parliament, over which the English have no say. Rationally someone living in England has more worries about sovereignty than someone living in Scotland surely? Just out of interest if I moved up to live in Scotland, would I then be Scottish to you or English?

The Junior/Senior partnership is a fact of life. The US is 9 or 10 times our GDP. Having said that we get a huge advantage within the EU by being so close to the US. Germany, France Italy and the rest would sell their grandmas for our relationship with the US, "special", "lapdog" what ever you want to call it....

The deafening silence on the US boards tells us how special this relationship is to them. Time we grew up and realised we're just a handy medium-sized ally and not a partner to the world's superpower.

 

Essex

After Blair

Will the special relationship survive?

National Review
By Nile Gardiner
June 27, 2007

Far from being America's "poodle", Britain is very important for the United States



Tony Blair’s departure from Downing Street potentially marks the end of an era in U.S.-British relations. His extraordinarily close partnership with President Bush since the 9/11 attacks defied all expectations and provided the engine for the global War on Terror. In the past six years, the alliance between the United States and Great Britain rose to its strongest point since the days of the Cold War bond between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Today, more than 12,000 British troops fight alongside their American counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and London and Washington are cooperating on dozens of counterterrorism operations across the globe. The enduring strength of the alliance is the envy of the free world, and the French president or German chancellor can only dream of the kind of direct access to the White House that is the preserve of the British prime minister.

The special relationship is, however, under threat, and stands in a precarious long-term position. There are major challenges on the horizon, including the stunning rise of anti-Americanism in Britain, growing attempts by the al Qaeda network to break the alliance, as well as the continuing loss of British sovereignty in the European Union. The relationship cannot be taken for granted, and protecting and defending it should be a top-level priority for the U.S. government.

There is growing public animosity in the U.K. toward the alliance, and widespread disillusionment with American global leadership, across all political parties, social classes, and age groups.

In a September 2006 Financial Times/Harris poll, a striking 33 percent of Britons surveyed described the United States as "the greatest threat to global stability."(Just 21 percent named Iran, and 10 percent, North Korea.) Nearly 70 percent of Britons questioned in an October 2006 Guardian/ICM survey stated that U.S. policy had made the world "less safe" since 2001, and 75 percent agreed that President Bush was “a great or moderate danger to peace”, more than the 62 percent scored by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the 69 percent by Kim Jong Il.

In a June 2006 Daily Telegraph/ YouGov poll, 77 percent of those polled disagreed with the view that the United States was “a beacon of hope for the world,” and 58 percent supported the description of America as “an imperial power.” Sixty-seven percent of respondents expressed “little or very little confidence” in “the ability of the United States to deal wisely with present world problems,” and 65 percent supported the view that U.S. policies made the world “a somewhat or much worse place to live in.” A July 2006 Guardian/ICM poll found that 63 percent of Britons thought the UK was “too close to the USA,” and just 9 percent of British respondents in a March 2007 YouGov poll agreed with the proposition that "Britain should continue to base its foreign policy on its close relationship with the United States."

If these poll findings are cemented over the next few years and become part of an irreversible trend, the ramifications for future British policy toward the United States will be immense. They reflect a commonly held, though hugely unfair view among the British public that Britain under Tony Blair has become America’s “poodle,” receiving nothing in return. Blair’s unyielding support for President Bush perversely weakened the prospect of future British leaders standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States. His successor, Gordon Brown, will be heavily dependent upon the traditional socialist Left of the ruling Labor party for support, and will be under pressure not to emulate the close Bush-Blair partnership.

A frequent visitor to the United States, Brown’s instincts are far from anti-American, but those of his party certainly are. He will undoubtedly seek to create some distance between Washington and London, and will prioritize ‘soft’ issues, such as international development, foreign aid, and global warming. The high-profile, flashy public press conferences that were a regular feature of the Washington political scene when Blair was prime minister, are likely to replaced by low key, but tougher behind the scenes negotiations, with Brown cutting a far less dashing figure on the world stage.

While there is no prospect of a British withdrawal from Afghanistan — in fa

That deafening silence you hear EB is a cautious US trying to wait and see where Gordon Brown leads you. After six years of hearing we shoot off our big mouths and shout people down, maybe George Bush and company and the rest of US choose to shut up and LISTEN?

The quickest way to lose a friend is to shoot off your big mouth when he's trying to make some major decisions of his own.

 

If you want our advice we'll offer it, if you want our praise, its always there, but until we know what you've decided, why should we react or comment  about your domestic politics?

 

Give Gordon Brown a chance to lead first and then we'll comment on where he takes you.

 

Herald