THE UNITED Kingdom’s future relationship with the United States must be “less deferential” and British leaders must make clear when the two countries’ interests diverge, says a House of Commons committee.
The report from the foreign affairs committee will be seen as criticism of the efforts by former prime minister Tony Blair to align the UK closely with Washington over Iraq and Afghanistan.
The influence of the UK on Washington will “inevitably” decline further in the future, given the ever-growing power of China and India and countries such as Brazil, the MPs’ committee said.
“The use of the phrase ‘the special relationship’ in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided.
“The overuse of the phrase by some politicians and many in the media serves simultaneously to devalue its meaning and to raise unrealistic expectations about the benefits the relationship can deliver to the UK.”
The report went on: “The UK needs to be less deferential and more willing to say no to the US on those issues where the two countries’ interests and values diverge. The UK’s relationship should be principally driven by the UK’s national interests.”
Labour MP Mike Gapes, the committee’s chairman, said: “The perception that the British government was a subservient poodle to the US administration leading up to [the Iraq invasion] and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas.
“This perception, whatever its relation to reality, is deeply damaging to the reputation and interests of the UK. Over the longer term the UK is unlikely to be able to influence the US to the extent it has in the past,” he went on.
Following the end of the second World War, then-British prime minister Winston Churchill claimed in November 1945 and then again the following year, that a special relationship existed between the two countries.
In his 1946 speech, Mr Churchill said: “Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organisation will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples . . . a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.”
Responding to the report, the foreign and commonwealth office last night said the media’s focus on the phrase “special relationship” overshadowed the fact that the ties between London and Washington are “unique and uniquely important”.
Jeremy Greenstock, who served at the United Nations in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, said the foreign office never regarded the US/UK relations as “special” in their own day-to-day relationship.