Cameron criticises Bush for his 'simplistic soundbites'

I never thought the day would come when I could say this, but David Cameron got it spot on.

In his first major speech on foreign policy he laid out his case and defined where he would differ from Blair in relation to the UK's relationship with the US. It was hard to disagree with the points he made.

Mr Cameron said Baroness Thatcher as Prime Minister had got the balance of the Anglo-American relationship right but argued Mr Blair had got it wrong. "We should be solid but not slavish in our friendship with America. We have never, until recently, been uncritical allies of America," he said.

"The sooner we rediscover the right balance, the better for Britain and our alliance. This is not anti-American. This is what America wants."

Much as I loathed Thatcher, she was not afraid to stand up to Reagan when she differed with him on policy, something that Blair has refused to do with Bush. Indeed, when Reagan was preparing to invade Grenada she wrote to him:

This action will be seen as intervention by a western country in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, however unattractive its regime. I ask you to consider this in the context of our wider East-West relations and of the fact that we will be having in the next few days to present to our Parliament and people the siting of Cruise missiles in this country... I cannot conceal that I am deeply disturbed by your latest communication.

Indeed Reagan feared her wrath so much that he begun his telephone conversation with her after the invasion by stating:

Prime Minister Thatcher:
Hello, Margaret Thatcher here.

President Reagan:
If I were there Margaret, I'd throw my hat in the door before I came in.

It's impossible to imagine Thatcher being greeted as, "Yo Thatcher!" the humiliating way that Bush addressed Blair.

Cameron went on to stress that he is a "liberal conservative rather than a neo-conservative", and dismissed Bush's approach to the War on Terror as "unrealistic and simplistic" soundbites.

He went on:

"We must not stoop to illiberalism - whether at Guantanamo Bay, or here at home with excessive periods of detention without trial," he said.

"We must not turn a blind eye to the excesses of our allies - abuses of human rights in some Arab countries, or disproportionate Israeli bombing in Lebanon. We are fighting for the principles of civilisation - let us not abandon those principles in the methods we employ."

He outlined a five-pronged "liberal conservative" approach based on understanding fully the threat faced; recognising that democracy could not be imposed quickly or easily from outside; that a new strategy needed to go far beyond military action; a "new multilateralism" was needed and the world must strive to act with moral authority.

In a reference to the continuing crisis in Iraq, he said: "Liberty grows from the ground - it cannot be dropped from the air by an unmanned drone."

As I say, he's spot on and it's impossible to argue with his logic.

The relationship between the US and the UK is strong because of the historical links between the two country's. They share a language and a common ideology.

However, not until Blair has it been a relationship of subservience. Harold Wilson refused to have any involvement with Vietnam and the relationship was not soured. Thatcher was not afraid to disagree vehemently with Reagan when British interests did not coincide with US interests.

Under Blair's leadership it has become impossible to find any area where British interests are perceived as having any importance beyond where they fit into a preordained American framework.

It's tantamount to a national humiliation. Cameron is right to point this out and deserves to be applauded.

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