Brown and America

Will Blair's successor be as pro-American? The commentary so far has been somewhat asinine. Oliver Kamm writes:

"His adoration for Cape Cod, and its supposed Kennedyesque glamour, knows no bounds," complains the New Statesman. The comment editor of this newspaper conversely concludes with satisfaction that Mr Brown may prove more pro-American even than Tony Blair. How so? "He holidays in America."

The only reason to infer Mr Brown’s foreign policies from his holiday destination is lack of other evidence. Mr Brown is a co-architect of new Labour, but new Labour was never very interested in foreign policy. Its 1997 manifesto made no mention of the US at all...

my best guess is that consistency between Mr Blair and Mr Brown will be more rhetorical than heartfelt. The Chancellor will emphasise humanitarian intervention, but by soft power and through multilateral institutions. His model will be the diplomacy of Bretton Woods rather than President Truman’s protracted and electorally risky military commitments. This would not in my view be sensible, but the Middle East more than Massachusetts will determine Brownian policy.

I must say, though, that any man who appreciates the sublime beauty of Cape Cod is someone I'm not too worried about.