Britain and America

George W Bush's BBC interview

Earlier today George W Bush sat down with BBC America's Matt Frei and recorded an interview - ahead of his Africa tour.

The full transcript is here.

We didn't learn a great deal but it is good to see the White House acknowledging the importance of the BBC and in a two-way with BBCtv's Kirsty Wark, Matt Frei talked about the time he spent with the President after the formal interview.  Frei reported that President Bush said that he hoped to conclude a settlement of the Palestinian question during his period of office and that it would be the most important thing that he hoped to achieve.

Which Bush era foreign policy will work best in the long-run?

I have written for today's (London) Times about three different Bush foreign policies...

• 'Neoconservatism' in Iraq;
• Multilateralism in Iran; and
• Realpolitik in Pakistan

I suggest that it's no longer impossible to believe that policy towards Iraq may produce the least troublesome nation of the three in a decade or two's time.  Space was limited but I could also have included Saudi Arabia in my list of Bush foreign policies - where outright appeasement has been pursued.

Piers Morgan encounters foolproof technology

This is how left-wing tabloid newspaper The Daily Mirror reported George Bush's falling off a Segway a few years ago:

BUSH ENCOUNTERS 'FOOLPROOF' TECHNOLOGY

"THE makers promise it will never fall over... So even George Bush should be able to use the Segway personal two-wheel transporter without tumbling off. After all, it's kept upright by some of the most sophisticated gyroscopes known to man, linked to a series of computers to detect the slightest movement.

But if anyone can make a pig's ear of riding a sophisticated, self-balancing machine like this, Dubya can. The President climbed on, stumbled a bit, then crashed off the other side - before it had actually gone anywhere. And this is the man who used to fly fighter planes.

Only his pride was hurt. And, to be fair, to Mr Bush, he did climb back on and finally get the hang of the machine at his dad George Bush Snr's home."

The paper was edited at the time by Piers Morgan. One of the milder things Morgan said about Bush in the paper was this before his re-election:

"I am deeply sceptical that the Bush family are capable of free and fair elections. I sincerely hope America wakes up to this guy in November and elects somebody with a less disturbing blood lust."

He was later sacked for publishing fake photos of British soldiers mistreating Iraqis.

Now he's been caught on video in America falling off a Segway himself. In his case more than his pride was hurt, he broke three ribs. There's no intellectual merit to this story at all, it's just delicious to see one example of gratuitous Bush-bashing to backfire!

White House retirees pay tribute to George W Bush

Karl Rove has a feature on National Review Online in which he pays tribute to the President's understanding of the long-term threats facing America:

"He will be judged as a man of moral clarity who put America on wartime footing in the dangerous struggle against radical Islamic terrorism.  Following the horrors of 9/11, this president changed American foreign policy by declaring terror sponsors responsible for the deeds of those they shelter, train, and fund. America, he said, will not wait until dangers fully materialize with attacks on our homeland before confronting those threats.  The president gave the nation new tools to defeat terrorism abroad and protect our citizens at home with the Patriot Act, foreign surveillance that works in the wireless age, a transformed intelligence community, and the Department of Homeland Security.  And this president saw the wisdom of removing terrorism’s cause by advocating the spread of democracy, especially in the Muslim world, where authoritarianism and repression have provided a potent growth medium for despair and anger aimed at the West. He recognized that democracy there makes us safer here."

Outgoing White House press secretary Tony Snow is seen in the video below paying tribute to President Bush as a "good guy".  Towards the end of the video Mr Snow notes how America has more allies in Europe than it a few years ago.

George W Bush salutes Tony Blair on his final day as Prime Minister

Tony Blair ceases to be Prime Minister today and his last 24 hours in power have had a decidely American feel to them.  He met Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Downing Street yesterday to discuss climate change issues and there is much talk of him spending much of his 'retirement' on the US lecture circuit.  He is expected to command a fee of $150,000 per appearance and will probably speak at least once or twice a month in the USA over the next year.  He leaves Downing Street heavily in debt and with mortgages for five properties.

The clipping above is from the front page of The Times.  The Times also reports that Tony Blair is likely to be The Quartet Powers' Special Envoy to the Middle East.

George W Bush's tribute to Tony Blair appears on the front page of The Sun, Britain's best-selling newspaper.  The Sun publishes a sixteen page tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister.  Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Bono and Governor Schwarzenegger are amongst the contributors.  Here are some key extracts from the President's interview-based article for The Sun:

"We've served together during a time of war, and shared the same determination to succeed.  We analysed the enemy the same way, and found each other in the same foxhole.  I admire somebody who sees over the horizon.  In this job, and in his job, you've got to see beyond the immediate if you intend to lay a foundation for peace.  Tony and I have had great and long discussions about the threats the civilised world faces.  He fully understands the nature of the enemy.  He sees this as an ideological struggle, and he knows that those of us blessed by the ideology of liberty, that has led to great comfort for our respective peoples, must help others realise the benefits of that."

"This is the beginning of a long ideological struggle, where Tony Blair and I are writing the first chapters of the war, probably the dominant war of the 21st Century."
 
"Tony's great skill, and I wish I had it, is that he's very articulate.  I wish I was a better speaker.  This guy can really talk!"

“Tony’s had a great run and history will judge him kindly. He’s a very talented man, for whom I’ve got a great deal of respect. I selfishly said to him, ‘I hope you can stay out my term!’  But Tony has been very gracious about Gordon Brown to me.  Gordon came here and he wasn’t the image of the dour Scotsman at all! He was relaxed. It was a good meeting.”

Mr Blair may have a friend and admirer in President Bush but the final opinion poll of his era suggests that only 14% of voters want the next generation of British politicians to embrace Blairism.

Related link: What will Brown mean for the special relationship?

1pm update: Fast record of Tony Blair's final PMQs

Britain & America ... & France?

Andrew Burkinshaw

This afternoon Tony Blair is in Paris meeting French president-elect Nicholas Sarkozy. It is not their first meeting, the pair have met frequently, including during the recent French elections – much to the consternation of the Foreign Office.

For Tony Blair Sarkozy’s election has come too late. For all his time in office he has had to deal with incumbent French president Jacques Chirac, a man antipathetic to Blairite convictions. On European reform, and in the war on terror, Tony Blair has not had an ally in his French counterpart.

Nicholas Sarkozy causes Tony Blair – and Gordon Brown – to believe that he will be a truer friend of Britain. Although not a fully paid up free marketeer Sarkozy has not been uncomfortable with comparisons to Margaret Thatcher and with suggestions that France can learn from British success. His pragmatism suggests he will be willing to engage in European reform which, although not always to Britain’s liking, will at least will be less federalist and ideological.

But it is not only in London that the election of Sarkozy is being welcomed. Washington has been quick to congratulate the man who on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 said “My dedication to our relationship with America is well known and has earned me substantial criticism in France. But let me tell you something, I’m not a coward. I embrace that friendship, I’m proud of the friendship between France and the U.S. and I proclaim it gladly.”

In his post election speech Sarkozy said “I want to call out to our American friends to tell them that they can count on our friendship.” His American friends have heard that and will be hoping his rhetoric is a sign that France will once again be an ally.

Sarkozy joins Angela Merkel as a new leader from “old” Europe who recognises the importance of a good relationship with the Americans. For Britain and America, too long without allies in Western Europe, the electoral emergence of friends is good news for them, and for all those who believe in freedom.

After Blair: What will Brown mean for the special relationship?

Andrew Burkinshaw

In what must be one of the least surprising announcements he has made Tony Blair today announced he will step down as Prime Minister on the 27th June. What will his resignation mean for Britain’s relationship with America?

During his ten years in Downing Street Tony Blair formed an unsurprisingly good relationship with Bill Clinton and a surprisingly good relationship with his successor, George Bush.

With Gordon Brown almost certain to succeed Tony Blair the Telegraph in the UK and the Wall Street Journal in the US have looked at what this will mean for the transatlantic alliance, and for the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister.

In the Telegraph Con Coughlin describes the centrality of the relationship between Britain and America to Britain’s post war politics. He cites the relationships between past leaders saying Roosevelt and Churchill were united in their attempts to fight fascism, Kennedy and MacMillan and Reagan and Thatcher by the Cold War and Blair and Bush by the threat of Islamic terrorism. Heath, by contrasted, neglected the new PM’s rush to the White House in favour of the European capitals and his subsequent obsession with Europe left the transatlantic relationship at its lowest ebb.

Gordon Brown is unlikely to do the same. He is a frequent traveller to America, for both business and pleasure, and has strong ties with the political establishment, albeit largely on the Democratic side. But he’ll come to office knowing how unpopular his association with George Bush made Tony Blair. Even Brown’s brief “bump into” the President last month raised concern on the Labour back benches; he’ll have to walk a political tightrope between distancing himself from Blair’s legacy and maintaining Britain’s most important alliance.

Even if Brown is tempted to turn to Europe he will find a continent unwilling to forget his frustration of Tony Blair’s wish to join the Euro. Slight antipathy between Britain and Europe is one of the themes of the Wall Street Journal’s article. Europe, it argues, has much to learn from the openness and appetite for globalisation that has made the UK so successful. One of Britain’s responsibilities should be focussing European minds on free trade and economic reforms rather than the constitution; Europe is always stronger when the UK “keeps a hand on the steering wheel.” The UK will always be America’s most trusted ally in Europe, a “new” European bridge to “old” Europe.

But what do we know of the man likely to lead Britain? The Wall Street Journal says Brown “has failed to explain how he would deal with foreign policy as well as such domestic issues as rising crime and Islamic extremism, immigration, health and other failing public services.” Sarkozy had to explain his plans, any putative American President will have to; Brown has not.

After the close relationship between Blair’s Britain and their country Americans are understandably concerned about the views of the man who is likely to be leader of their closest ally. They know the one thing he can claim responsibility for, his stewardship of the economy, has been at best mixed, the welcome independence of the Bank of England contrasted with spiralling public spending and a pensions shortfall. For Americans exchanging the familiarity of Tony Blair with the gloomy enigma of Gordon Brown will be hard. But they should be encouraged by the what the Queen told President Bush in Washington last Monday, “Administrations in your country and governments in mine may come and go, but talk we will, listen we have to, disagree from time to time we may, but united we must always remain.”

See Britain and America: Bush and Brown hold face to face

Brown and Bush hold first face-to-face meeting

Tony Blair is expected to announce his departure timetable on 4th May - hours after his party is expected to do very badly in elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and English local councils.  Although there is considerable speculation that Gordon Brown may face a leadership challenge from David Miliband, a favourite of Tony Blair's circle, most money is still on Britain's Chancellor becoming Britain's next Prime Minister.

We learnt overnight that Mr Brown had his first serious meeting with President Bush.  In what - slightly unconvincingly - has been described as an "unplanned" 45 minute meeting (When does the President ever have 45 minutes just spare in his diary?) the two men reportedly discussed Iraq, Afghanistan and trade liberalisation.

There are high hopes in parts of the Labour Party that a Brown premiership will mark an end to the closeness of the Labour Government to the White House.  BritainAndAmerica.com does not expect significant shifts from existing policy.  In contrast to the USA's surge of troops into Baghdad, Britain, for example, is already withdrawing troops from Iraq while Tony Blair is still in Downing Street.  Key Brown supporters, including the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, were leading advocates of Britain's current troop deployments in Afghanistan.  Gordon Brown's own inner circle includes key supporters of Israel and there is unlikely to be a major reassessment of the Labour Government's support for the Middle East's most besieged nation.

There may be gestures from an incoming Brown government.  Tony Blair has never directly attacked the Bush White House on any policy, for example.  With Brown there might, however, be public criticism of the situation at Guantanamo Bay or of the administration's approach to climate change.

The greatest room for a different approach will probably come with looming foreign policy decisions and, in particular, what to do with Iran.  It is conceivable that Tony Blair may have been willing to sanction a hawkish approach to dealing with Tehran although he would not have been able to do so without risking the unity of the Labour party.  It is almost impossible to imagine Gordon Brown adopting a hawkish approach to Iran unless the Ahmadinejad regime initiated overtly hostile actions rather than acting through Hezbollah and its other surrogates. 

Busting one or two myths about George W Bush

George W Bush has many failings but much Bush-bashing is based on ignorance.  BritainAndAmerica's Tim Montgomerie and Joe Loconte recently met Colleen Graffy of the US State Department for a different perspective on George W Bush and his administration.  After watching the clip you can watch the full programme here.