Unintended Consequences

27 June 2007



Blair Brought UK Closer to Brussels, Farther From Washington

Any assessment of what Tony Blair’s years at Number 10 Downing Street meant internationally has to be made in light of the tugging between the Anglo-American special relationship and the UK-European reality. Despite trying to keep Britain closely tied to America, the Blair foreign policy unintentionally weakened British ties to the United States and by default, pushed Britain ever closer to the EU.

The decline of the Anglo-American special relationship is a fact of history. Since 1945, the US and UK have drifted apart. This was inevitable as the common threat receded; communism was fought without direct military action that would have kept Air Strip One a firm part of Oceania. Suez in 1956 gave the British the first inkling that the Yanks weren’t quite on the same side. Prime Minister Wilson returned the favor when he told LBJ that no Brits would die in Vietnam. That is not to say that the two nations were not close (America may only be closer to Canada to this day), but that the “joined at the hip” days of 1941-1945 were artificial.

Without an empire, Britain has been seeking a role, and the ties to America gave it the power to “punch above its weight” globally. At the same time, though, Europe is a damned sight closer, and there was much money to be made there. Despite De Gaulle’s veto on British membership in the European Common Market, by 1970, it was inevitable. Through the Thatcher years, this UK-European relationship was an awkward one, not unlike teenagers in the early stages of a romance. Her departure set the stage for closer relations with the EU. The decline in the importance of the ties to America was only relative. America remained important to Britain, while European influence grew independently of it.

This all changed in 2003, when America attacked the Saddamite regime in Baghdad. Mr. Blair did what almost any British Prime Minister would have done – he backed Mr. Bush. The difference between Vietnam and Iraq-Nam now is miniscule, but in February 2003, America still had the aura of the wronged party, the victim of an attack. The success of the attack on the Taliban emboldened the neo-conservatives to move on, and Mr. Blair followed the lead. The British people, though, didn’t.

Most Britons never bought the necessity of the war against Saddam. Indeed, had it not been for the votes of Conservative MPs, who cited the Special Relationship as their reason, Mr. Blair wouldn’t have won Commons approval for the war. Now, five years on, the average Briton is in the position of saying “told you so,” and wondering just what is going on in America when it can re-elect someone like Mr. Bush.

The two countries are tied by a common language (sort of) and a common history. There will always be a special cultural relationship. However, the Blair years and the Blair policies have seen to it that the UK will back the US less often, and then, with less enthusiasm than before. Moreover, Europe appears more benign because it can’t get itself into the same kind of trouble (27 nations never act as decisively as 1). And that is Mr. Blair’s chief legacy on the international stage.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


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