Gordon Brown vs David Cameron

17 June 2006

Irwin Stelzer says that the sharp policy distinctions of the past are no more, but that the choice ahead of the voters is still one to relish. This is his audit of the scores so far

When it comes to Britain’s position in the world, I must warn readers that I speak with the prejudice of an American who believes, with Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, that the cause of world peace and order is best served by the special relationship between our countries. Blair, Brown and Cameron all believe that that relationship serves Britain’s interests, even though at times America regrettably neglects its end of the reciprocity bargain. But Blair was able to move seamlessly from third-way talkfests with Bill Clinton to a wartime alliance with George W. Bush. Brown’s more left-leaning domestic politics makes it less likely that he will be as comfortable with a Republican president as would Cameron. After all, Brown values his chats with Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, a certified Bush-hater (whose candidates have lost in all of the seven campaigns he has managed), while Cameron has adopted President Bush’s language of ‘compassionate conservatism’, and recently had his shadow Cabinet visit Washington to re-establish ties with the Republican White House, State Department and economic team. The Bush-haters in Britain will deem this a stain on Cameron’s escutcheon; America-lovers a positive. Americans will worry, and so should the world, that Brown’s flirtation with a Democratic party that has become neo-isolationist and his desire to skimp on military spending will reduce Britain’s effectiveness as an American partner in maintaining world order.

That’s the score sheet. Las Vegas roulette wheel operators like to say, ‘You pays your money, and you takes your choice.’ Or they did before the Strip became as high-toned as it is today. British voters surely are paying enough in taxes to have the right to make a choice. But for now, watchful waiting is the best course. There is still time for Gordon Brown to establish his reform credentials by backing Blair on education, healthcare, crime and other issues — and not merely with mumbled asides or press releases from the safe distance of Africa or China. And there is still time for David Cameron to prove he is not a Lib Dem pretty face in Tory clothing. A reformist Brown v. a modern but conservative Tory, that’s a choice for a nation to relish.

Irwin Stelzer is director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute and a columnist for the Sunday Times.