God bless Tony B.:Blair defies critics to stand by US alliance
Cathy Newman, Political Correspondent,Financial Times
November 14 2004
LONDON-Europe must unite with the US under the banner of democracy to defeat the scourge of terrorism around the world, Tony Blair will urge on Monday.
The prime minister will defy leftwing critics of the war in Iraq to mount an impassioned defence of Britain's “special relationship” with the US.
In his annual foreign policy speech at the Mansion House in London, Mr Blair will lay out his vision shared with George W. Bush, US president that global terrorism will be defeated only by the spread of democracy. That is the message that should bind Europe and the US, he will indicate, challenging opponents who describe him as Mr Bush's “poodle” by arguing that a strong alliance with both is in Britain's national interest.
The prime minister returns to the offensive over the Anglo-American relationship despite deepening unease among Labour backbenchers about the aftermath of the war in Iraq and Mr Blair's dealings with the US president.
Both men appear to be hoping that domestic opposition to the war in Iraq may be neutralised if a stable democracy is installed through elections in January.
Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday, Mr Blair said: “I think we get an immense amount out of this relationship, because we believe in the same things, we share the same interests. And, you know, where would we be, as Britain or as Europe, if America disengaged from the world and said, “Well, you guys go and sort out allthe problems of the world.”
“So, you know, when people say to me, ‘Where's your payback from this relationship,' my answer is: My payback is the relationship. It is an important relationship for Britain and America.”
A Downing Street insider said on Sunday night: “What you need is democratic world opinion to be united in the pursuit of democracy. In various parts of the world, and the Middle East is one of them, while America has the power Europe has immense amounts of areas of influence.”
However, the reaction of Labour backbenchers suggested that today's speech may do little to ease his problems with the party at Westminster.
John Denham, the former minister who resigned in opposition to Britain's backing for war in Iraq, told the FT last night that he did not believe Mr Blair's speech would resolve the question of what Britain and Europe should do if the Americans refused to put sufficient pressure on the Israelis as part ofthe Middle East peaceprocess.
“The question is to what extent does Britain or indeed other European Union countries take the view that the peace process is in the hands of the Americans, and therefore if the Americans can't deliver there's nothing much that anyone else can do . . . That's the question that won't go away,” he said.
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