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Washington : British Prime Minister Comes To Town
By The Anglo American | July 25, 2010
British Prime Minister David Cameron with President Obama.
UPDATE : US TELLS SCOTLAND TO RELEASE LOCKERBIE BOMBER………..
David Cameron visits Washington this week. America’s Time Magazine described him as America’s junior partner. Cameron has also said this is not a partnership of equals. For many Britons these meetings with their Atlantic friends have become embarrassing and somewhat humiliating for the country. And this is not without historical precedent. So Cameron’s approach is refreshing. Barak Obama has already met David Cameron. The President already knows Cameron is no pushover, no Tony Blair. Cameron has already crossed swords with the President before they both reached high office. Cameron showed he understood a lot more about Afghanistan than the President to be. {See The Anglo American September 2008}.
David CameronThe British Prime Minister will have a busy time in Washington. Top of the list is BP and for a lots of reasons. Cameron will no doubt point out that while the company is 40% British it is also 39% American. This means that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk in the US as well as the UK . Equally, pension funds are heavily invested in BP on both sides of the Atlantic. Cameron may want the President to consider this the next time he fires off another broadside against the company.
Then there is the storm around the release of the Lockerbie bomber. The British government has already said that the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was a mistake. He may want to explain how, constitutionally, Westminster was not involved in the decision.
UPDATE: CAMERON TO MEET SENATORS OVER LOCKERBIE BOMBER - GO TO STORY..….
However this view gains little traction in the Senate. Tony Blair was very close to General Gaddafi and remains so. There is suspicion that though his very complex web of companies, the former Prime Minister is on Libyan President’s payroll. Despite denying this Blair was in secret talks with Gaddafi, in Libya, a few days later {see story here}. Gaddafi’s son has called Blair, Libya’s special advisor.
Blair was also very close to Lord Browne, the disgraced former CEO of BP. The Senate is looking closely at the timing of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi’s release and the signing of BP contracts with Libya. There are just far too many coincidences for them to remain just that. Blair may be asked to appear before the US Senate.
And then there is the thorny issue of the US/UK extradition treaty. This treaty was supposed to provide an easy extradition process for terrorists. It is all too often being used for alleged white crime. Far to often Britons, extradited from their own country, are pleading guilty, on grounds of cost and often frailty, rather than guilt. The computer hacker, Gary Mckinnon continues his fight to see justice in Britain despite his fragile mental condition. The US remains happy with the treaty and a quite peeved that the British government intends to reform it. Finally ratified by the US, it is proving to be very divisive law in Britain.
Gary Mckinnon fighting extradition to the US.
No doubt there will be all the platitudes and the pomp that Washington envelops round British leaders these days. But unlike Britain’s other recent premiers, David Cameron is unlikely to be the usual Washington walkover. But, away from the cameras, he is unlikely to have much of a welcome.
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July 25th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
A very good piece.