Stand up to US, voters tell Blair

Having stood firmly behind Washington's stance whilst she ripped up sixty years of international law and invaded Iraq - having remained silent whilst she blowtorched the Geneva Conventions by installing prisoners without trial or charge in Guantanamo Bay - it really was no surprise to anyone to find Blair putting Britain at odds with the rest of the planet by backing the US's position vis a vis Israel and the Lebanese.

However, it would appear that his failure to call for a ceasefire at a time when the world's TV screens were filled with the sight of Israel pounding a much weaker Lebanon - who's people had never attacked it - has proven too much for the British who are now, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll, demanding that Blair put some light between British policy and that of the US, with 63% saying that Blair has made the "special relationship" too special.

Even a majority of Labour supporters, who could normally be expected to back Blair's foreign policy stances, think Blair has misjudged this relationship with 54% saying that Britain is too close to the US.

It is hard not to surmise that that the "Yo Blair" moment and the Prime Minister's insane decision to back the US position of refusing to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East whilst Israel carried out hugely disproportionate attacks against Lebanon, have all contributed to the findings of this poll.

And voters are strongly critical of the scale of Israel's military operations in Lebanon, with 61% believing the country has overreacted to the threats it faces.

As pressure grows for a change of strategy, the poll finds that only 22% of voters believe Israel has reacted proportionately to the kidnapping of soldiers and other attacks from militant groups in southern Lebanon. Israel has repeatedly sought to assure the world that its actions are a legitimate response to threats to its own territory, including missile attacks on the north of the country.

The finding follows more than a week in which Mr Blair has come under fire for echoing US caution about the practicality of an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and for allying himself too closely to Israel.

At a press conference in London yesterday Mr Blair defended his position and expressed sympathy for the plight of the Lebanese. "What is occurring in Lebanon at the present time is a catastrophe. Anybody with any sense of humanity wants what is happening to stop and stop now," Mr Blair said. He added: "But if it is to stop, it must stop on both sides."

Although Blair has been insistent that he would not publicly call the Israeli attacks on Lebanon "disproportionate" we have had hints in print that what Blair says publicly does not always reflect what he privately feels.

I'm not sure how he imagines leaking stuff like that will help him in his present position. Indeed, to me that only highlights the problem. He appears to be hinting that he'd love to say more but that it would be diplomatically awkward.

It is only diplomatically awkward because it would put him at odds with the position of the American administration. He seems not to realise that when the American administration is flat wrong then it's maybe not a bad thing to say so.

Blair seems to have confused obsequience with loyalty, and somewhere along the line the American position has become - by default - the UK position.

This was okay when people were supporting "our boys" in Iraq, but the situation in Lebanon is not such a scenario. The British public have not enjoyed having their Prime Minister align them with a nation that appears to be bullying a smaller country by relentless aerial bombardment.

And they now appear to be saying, "Enough is enough."

This "special relationship" gives the people of Britain no great advantage over it's rivals when it comes to US policy. Blair has managed to extract no price that any of us can see for his constant toadying to Bush. Kyoto remains unsigned, the US have still to recognise the ICC, indeed, the US can now extradite our citizens without presenting evidence to our courts and yet have failed to ratify the same treaty at their end giving us the same right over American citizens.

The so called "special relationship" is a one way street. Indeed, it has made Blair a figure of fun and left him with the label "poodle".

For such a bright man, Blair made one fatal mistake, he failed to realise the political reality of life in Washington.

The US has only one "special relationship". And that is with Israel.

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Tags: US, UK, Blair, Bush, special relationship, Guardian, ICM, poll, Israel, Lebanon,