Foreign Affairs

Britain must distance itself from George W. Bush. Of course the United States is a country with which we must have the best possible relationship but we should take the posture of 'critical friend' and a man like George W.,and those who back him, have been a disaster for the United States and the world.

I don't believe we can discharge the critical friend all the while we delude ourselves with a so called 'special relationship' derived from the imperatives of the early days of World War II. The reality is that the USA did not enter either WW I or WW II until their own self interest came under threat and I have absolutely no problem with that. Whatever special relationship emerged from those events was dealt a massive blow when the USA cut off their financial lifeline to us in 1946. We have only just finished paying back the money we owed the USA as a consequence of their support for Britain in WW II. It was dealt a second massive blow when the USA (rightly) refused to support us in the Suez adventure. It was dealt a third massive blow when Harold Wilson (rightly) refused to get involved in Vietnam.

We would be better able to work with the US if we buried the 'special relationship'