NEITHER:

William Hague must not allow himself to be swayed by anti-American Lib Dems: Britain's relationship with the US is more important than the one with Brussels (Con Coughlin, 14 May 2010, Daily Telegraph)

[W]hile Mr Hague can offer Washington reassurance that Britain will remain a staunch ally, the same cannot be said for his coalition partners. The overwhelming majority of Lib Dems not only oppose the war in Afghanistan and the possibility of military confrontation with Iran, but are deeply anti-American in their world view.

Like Mr Obama, the Lib Dems opposed the 2003 Iraq war. But any similarities in political outlook end there. After assuming office, the president quickly grasped the idea that rogue states such as Iran and Islamist terrorists required robust action; the Lib Dems, though, remain stuck in an Iraq war time-warp, where their world view is determined by the events of seven years ago, rather than the challenges the West faces today.

Thus the only mention of America in the Lib Dem manifesto complains of how Britain's "subservient" relationship with America has led to the neglect of our core values and interests. And in his only major pre-election foreign policy speech, Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, launched a strong attack on the Anglo-American alliance, declaring that Britain's "strategic interests will not be served unless we release ourselves from the spell of default Atlanticism which has prevailed so strongly since Suez".

This is not the view of the Eurosceptic Mr Hague who, as his new role dictates, is responsible for determining the course of Britain's relations with the outside world. He believes that Washington is a far more reliable guarantor of our national security than Brussels.

The challenge for him is to ensure his view prevails, and not the anti-American pacifism espoused by his Lib Dem coalition partners.

The sad fact is that England has outlived its usefulness to us in global security matters. Recall that George W. Bush didn't just allow Tony Blair to try to use the "threat" of WMD to sell the Iraq War to his reluctant parliament and people but startled the PM by telling him not to sweat it if he couldn't bring Britain into the war, we'd be happy to do it ourselves with no hard feelings.

Britain should cultivate closer trade ties with both Europe and the Anglosphere and leave its defense to us.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 14, 2010 6:03 AM