That’s enough grovelling, PM

Why is Tony Blair regularly lampooned as George Bush’s poodle? It is a fate that Margaret Thatcher never suffered, despite her long and intimate alliance with Ronald Reagan.

The reason is not that difficult to find. Thatcher was perfectly willing to swing her handbag at the Americans if she judged that British interests required it. There is, as yet, no evidence that Blair would even wag his finger in that direction.

Few of us would disagree with any British prime minister who makes the relationship with Washington and the White House a central part of his foreign policy. The British are more interested in power than in philosophy, more concerned with influence than with ideology. The Americans have that power. We want to have the influence.

In any event the United Kingdom, far more than any other European country, shares the values, the political priorities and the historical perspective of the United States. We are, to a considerable extent, an Atlantic and not just a European nation. There is no contradiction in this. In the same way, the Americans themselves are a Pacific as well as an Atlantic country, with different priorities at different times.

So Lloyd George cultivated Woodrow Wilson, Churchill was close to Roosevelt, Macmillan charmed Kennedy, and Thatcher lectured Bush senior. Blair is part of that tradition, and we can welcome it. But that is where the similarity ends.

The frequent comparison of Tony Blair to a loyal, diminutive canine comes about because his support for George Bush seems to be unconditional and unqualified. But wait a moment, you might say. What about his pressure for a UN second resolution? What about his support for UN involvement in Iraqi reconstruction? What about his promotion of the Middle East road-map? Surely these have all been policies that began in London and for which Blair can claim the credit?

That is all true, but with a fairly fundamental qualification.