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Thursday 9 February 2012

The special relationship cools a little more

Tuesday, 13th November 2007

In his foreign policy speech last night, Gordon Brown went to some lengths to address the froideur that he has introduced into Britain’s relationship with America by the pointedly precipitate British withdrawal from Basra and the frosty meeting he had with President Bush. It was all about how he would have no truck with anti-Americanism and would promote instead something he called ‘hard-headed internationalism’. So just how hard-headed will the Prime Minister to be towards Iran at this critical juncture in world history? Why, he’s going to push for even more hard-headed sanctions so that Iran will be

in no doubt about the seriousness of our purpose.

To be sure, Iran must be quaking in its uranium-enriched boots at that.

There’s only one thing that will make Iran realise the seriousness of Britain’s purpose. That’s if Britain makes it plain that if sanctions fail, war will follow. But on that, the Prime Minister was conspicuously silent. The British position is that military action is an option that can’t be ruled out, no more than that. This will do little to warm up relations with Washington. As the Telegraph reported yesterday:

The Bush administration is losing patience with Gordon Brown over Iran, with senior American diplomats frustrated by his reluctance to declare bluntly that the Islamic state must never be allowed nuclear weapons. Allies of Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, have told The Sunday Telegraph that the Prime Minister should emulate France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and warn that Iran may face military action, in order to help avert a new war in the Middle East.

The concerns reflect growing irritation in Washington, from the White House down, that Mr Brown will not match his more robust private conversations on Iran with hard-hitting public statements that would put pressure on the Teheran regime. Ms Rice's inner circle argue that unless Iran believes that its defiance of the international community will lead to serious economic and military consequences, there is little hope of diplomacy succeeding. They regard Britain as a key to that effort…. American diplomats believe any chance of persuading Russia, China and other European nations to support tougher sanctions on Iran is undermined if Britain appears publicly queasy about the consequences of failure. An official said: ‘I'd like to see more stick from Europe if any carrot from us is to work.’

When even the State Department starts to lose patience with Britain, you know the special relationship is in trouble. America must believe it is now dealing with a French lion and a British beef-eating surrender monkey.

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James Forsyth

November 13th, 2007 11:40am

Interesting take on the speech here, http://adamboulton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/gordon-the-inte.html

Tiberius

November 13th, 2007 12:16pm

I have no wish to defend Brown, but Sarkozy does not deserve any positive write-up until French troops are engaged in combat in Helmand province. It will take more than Britain's and Holland's commitment from Western Europe to engage militarily and successfully with Islamism and Iran.

Ian Parker

November 13th, 2007 12:41pm

It's a shame that the UK still feels the need to 'talk big' when it is armed with nothing more than a peashooter. We have seen enough appeasement of radical Islam within these shores to understand why Iran won’t exactly be quaking in their boots following anything Brown may have to say. Of course, we could always send a gunboat. On second thoughts, the crew would only be kidnapped again (and we'd then have to ask the US to help free them). Tricky, this international diplomacy.

Stuart

November 13th, 2007 2:34pm

I'm not worried! Brown is obviously keeping his powder dry. He's holding back "Kid" Milliband to put the fwighteners on Iran, as he has already done with Russia and Pakistan.

field

November 14th, 2007 2:47am

Gordon Brown is the appeaser in chief. Just as real progress is being made in Iraq with Al Queda defeated he's ready to bring all the troops back. What message does that send to Iran - with their own proxy terror network? His threats are hollow and have no value. His calculated insults towards Bush were childish and indicative of the "psychological defects" that are now becoming all too evident.

Fred

November 14th, 2007 4:03am

The picture of Brown makes him look like the stuffed duck he is. The UK under Labour has allowed its navy to dwindle to 44 ships, soon to fall to 25 (from well over 400 in the 1950's). The army has also been deliberately run-down. The UK now has almost no capacity to take on Iran militarily and this capacity worsens by the day. Once Brown signs the European 'treaty', any capacity to even express opinions about Iran or anywhere else will largey be lost, unlesss such views correspond with those of the (essentially unelected) and appeasing EU.

Lee Jakeman

November 14th, 2007 9:49am

I agree with Tiberius. French lion? (sounds of laughter).

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Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power', published by Encounter.

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