The Blair-Bush partnership, so awkward for the Labour party, has come to an end and everyone is speculating about how Gordon Brown will recalibrate the Special Relationship. But what about the Tories? Marginalised for years by Tony Blair’s diagonal alliance with the Republican President, they have struggled to know who their real friends are in Washington. This is a chance for them to think again.
Instead of allowing Gordon to go creeping back to the ascendant Democrats, leaving the Tories to make peace with a shattered Republican party, this could be the moment to admit that during those years of opposition the Tories and the Democrats have become rather well suited. If David Cameron wants a change-defining gesture that is coherent and actually popular, why not put an end to the existing formal ties with the Republican party and ask Hillary Clinton out to dinner before Gordon Brown gets anywhere near her?
Some Conservatives have long preferred the Democrats.
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