A fortnight into his new role and Gordon Brown is rattling through his to-do list with all the ferocity of a man who knows he has a whole terms work to cram into half that time.
Pleasantly surprised, he has hit all the right notes so far with his rolling back of some of Blair's more idiotic rulings but he has put his finger, thumb and the rest of his hand on the problem that hounded out his predecessor. Britain's relationship with the USA.
In appointing Iraq war critics to high profile positions in his cabinet, Brown has stated his Government will not be as pliant to the US regime as the former ministers who bowed and scraped to them.
This was confirmed during the week when the International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, told US foreign policy analysts that soft power, rather than military strength was the way to go and policy should be based on moral and fundamental values rather than special interests.
Apparently, it didn't go down very well in Washington who had already raised eyebrows over the direction Brown is taking the UK foreign policy. It has not been lost on them either that Mr Brown is touring European leaders before visiting the USA as he turns to look across the English Channel rather than across the Atlantic.
There will be a test at some point in the next 2 years where Brown will have to decide whether to stand with the USA foreign policy or move away, possibly over Iran.
Until then words maybe cheap but they are the words Britain have wanted to hear.
Just hope his actions match them when it matters.
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear that. Cut Georgie off at the balls, I say. And let his best buds be the first to do it. (Of course, his best buds being the Sauds, but in public we'll pretend it was Blair's administration.)
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