Toadying sidekick is UK speciality in relationship by Ian Williams Saturday, March 24th, 2012 The David Cameron-Barack Obama show

last week was puzzling. The President got no brownie points from conservative leaning voters because hardly anyone in the Un ited States, and certainly not the isolationist right, knows who Cameron is. Out side the specialist foreign policy community, which is aware of the eccentric an d unrequited British affectation of a special relationship, no American office bea rers would ever refer to it except, perhaps, when stuck for words for ritual gre etings to visiting British politicians. The real special relationship for Americ an legislators is with Israel, which results in reflexive and pretty much uncond itional support for whatever the government of Israel wants. In contrast, since 1945, the British special relationship with the US has consis ted of Britain doing what the US wanted. While Israel gets billions of dollars a year in kind and cash, it was only a few years ago that Britain paid off the la st tranches of the money it borrowed to fight the Second World War to buy weapon s from the US. And, with the noted exception of Harold Wilsons under-appreciated success in keeping British forces out of Vietnam, the reliable British role has been to provide modern-day sepoys to give internationalist cover to Washingtons adv entures. So we could almost applaud Cameron in calling for restraint on Iran. To ny Blair would probably have been accusing Obama of going wobbly by not joining Benjamin Netanyahu in smiting the Persians. Presumably, Obama overcame his previous indifference to Britain precisely becaus e he knew what Cameron would say and wanted support from a more reliable public ally to set against the tetchy paranoia of the guest who came just before Netany ahu. Indeed, in terms of sending messages, the bonhomie and picnic element that Obama put into his get-togethers with Cameron contrasted starkly with the cryoge nic chill of his forced encounters with the Israeli leader. By trying to head of f the drumbeats for war with more sanctions on Iran, Obama has helped to enginee r a rise in petrol prices. When your two worst enemies urge a particular course of action upon you, it is probably wiser to go in the opposite direction. Obama offered more sanctions to head off demands for military support for Netany ahus adventurism. Republicans, predictably, are blaming increasing pump prices on the President while Netanyahu, despite his professed atheism, probably prays da ily for Obamas defeat in November. So Camerons visit (and gratitude for the table tennis table, no doubt) was expediently welcome. However, Britain has neither an electorally powerful lobby, nor much in the way of public sentiment for any ref lexive sympathy. In fact, there would probably be more active antipathy if it we re not for the customary American historical amnesia, which means that most peop le have forgotten who burned down the White House and against whom the War of In dependence was fought. (But then startlingly large proportions have forgotten wh o was an ally and who was an enemy in the Second World War.) In realpolitik, a British government has to pay for anything it wants from the U S, but in the fuzzy self-delusion of the special relationship, Prime Ministers ten d to pre-emptively give Washington what it wants, fondly imagining reciprocation . On this occasion, in return for his support for Obamas position on Iran, Camero n has seemingly achieved a promise to consider, at least, amending the one-sided servile extradition treaty that currently sends British residents to politicall y influenced US courts and savage and inhumane prison sentences. Big deal. If Br itain is to sell its international reputation, it should demand a higher price. The Russians and Germans are no longer a threat. The US no longer wants an unsin kable aircraft carrier off the shores of a continent in which it has lost intere st. On the British side, the American idols after whom New Labour and Tories ali ke whored have given us the most overpopulated prisons and the worst social serv

ices and wealth inequality stility to workers rights k of a bullying superpower ake up from the dream of a

in Europe, along with the most intense legislative ho and trade unions. It also makes us globally the sidekic whose strength is failing. It is long past time to w special relationship.