John McCain on David Cameron

In this exclusive interview, the Republican presidential front-runner tells Matthew d’Ancona why he is speaking at the Conservative conference, and says that Cameron has the youth, exuberance and determination to be a Tory JFK

David Cameron was only one year and 17 days old on 26 October 1967, when John McCain was shot down in his A4 aircraft over Hanoi and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese. Almost four decades later, the two politicians have been brought together by a shared ambition to govern their respective countries — frontrunners to be prime minister and president — and a shared conservative purpose. Capitol Hill is making common cause with Notting Hill.

I am in the office of Senator McCain of Arizona on the eve of his visit to the Conservative conference in Bournemouth. Having given George W. Bush a serious fright in the 2000 presidential primaries, he is expected to run again in two years’ time, and heads the pack of those vying for the Republican nomination.

For now, however, not even his candidacy is declared. So early in the race, one would expect a politician as prominent as Sen. McCain to hedge and trim when asked about the volatile British political scene. Should he be inaugurated as the 44th President in January 2009, he will almost certainly have to deal — at the very least until the election — with Prime Minister Brown. But the swashbuckling side of the McCain character has led him to reach a quick and unequivocal judgment on Mr Cameron.

Asked what he likes about the young Tory leader, he lists ‘his youth, enthusiasm, willingness to embrace new ideas based on conservative policies’ — and pays particular tribute to the Conservative party’s fresh emphasis on the environment. He sees Mr Cameron (to whom he has spoken at length but will meet in the flesh for the first time this weekend) as ‘a breath of fresh air on the political scene’.