SPECIATOR
The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Fax 0171-242 0603
THE PRICE OF FRIENDSHIP
There has always been a vein of anti- Americanism running through the British body politic. It is difficult for a parent to be superseded by its offspring, and the passage of several generations does not seem to have made it easier for the old country to accept that it now lies in the political, cul- tural and economic shadow of its former colony. Such sentiments have in the past found a champion at Westminster in the Labour party, although Tony Blair has been Very careful to emphasise his commitment to the special relationship, both before and after becoming Prime Minister.
Now, Britain seems ready for another bout of mid-Atlantic angst. Members of the Cabinet, led by Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, are reported to be furious that Britain has unconditionally supported Pres- ident Clinton's decision to bomb Afghanistan and the Sudan. On the face of it, Mr Cook, if that is indeed his view, and the many Labour backbenchers who undoubtedly share it, may have a point.
It does seem a remarkable coincidence that Mr Clinton's resolve to hit back against the terrorists who perpetrated the outrages in Kenya and Tanzania coincided with the height of his difficulties over Monica Lewinsky. Moreover, now that the attacks have gone ahead, Britain may find itself bearing the brunt of any retaliation by Islamic extremists. Already, two British children have been badly injured by a bomb in Cape Town, our embassy in Sudan has been stoned by mobs, and the British ambassador has been asked to leave.
Unlike the Americans, who are inclined to pull all their personnel out of a country at the first hint of trouble, the British for- eign service is made of sterner stuff, and so may find itself the target of choice for ter- rorists around the world. Nor should we rule out bombs in London, which is home to a surprising number of militant Muslim groups, including some connected to Osama bin Laden.
At the same time, the American attacks Provide a sharp contrast to events in Ulster, where the United States has persistently supported the nationalist cause and dis- played a profound ignorance of the true state of affairs in the Province. Were Mr Blair to act against the Real IRA as the American armed forces have acted towards Mr bin Laden, we can be confident that America would be the first to join the cho- rus of condemnation.
But despite all this, the rise of anti- American feeling today is as misguided as it always has been in the past. We should be grateful that the US has the determination to strike against terrorists, and happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with them to fight for freedom and the rule of law. We should not allow Ireland, which is a special emotional case on the other side of the Atlantic, to cloud our judgment. Nor should we permit Mr Clinton to damage the way we feel about the nation he leads, as he has managed to undermine the way his fellow countrymen feel about them- selves. The United States backed Britain in two world wars this century and the Cold War that followed. Many Americans died helping our country. We owe it to their children to show that same fortitude today.
Britain benefits enormously from Ameri- ca's success. English has become the world's language, to our enormous cultural and economic advantage. Britain shares with America many of the same economic and political standards, and benefits from the superpower's muscle in imposing them upon the rest of the world. If Mr Cook has really added hostility towards the United States to his many other failings, Mr Blair should replace him immediately with some- one who understands the value of our spe- cial relationship.
The unlovely Labour MP Helen Brinton has revealed that she sees her life as having `many parallels' with that of Diana, Princess of Wales. Ms Brinton refers in particular to the decision by her husband to leave her on the day after last year's elec- tion. Her remarks appear to reinforce Bruce Anderson's argument elsewhere in this magazine that Diana was a patron saint of the unhappy.
This week, however, marked another more interesting attempt to cast the dead princess in a religious role. Two Sikh female artists, who happen to be twins, have painted her as a six-armed Hindu god- dess, sitting astride an elephant, in a multi- cultural reinterpretation of the image of Britannia.
In contrast to Ms Brinton's sad parallel, this is an image of hope. It marks an increasing readiness by Britain's Asian community to integrate with their adopted country. It demonstrates that our ethnic minorities, who feel British but not English, can act as glue to keep the fissiparous Unit- ed Kingdom together. And it highlights the important role that the royal family in gen- eral, and not just Diana, play in bridging barriers between different cultural and geo- graphical parts of the kingdom. Britain does not need Diana as a dead saint when we have the rest of the Windsor family as living royalty.
Previous page
