What Washington thought of Cameron: smooth, genial, evasive — and tough

He came, he saw and, to the surprise of many in Washington, David Cameron conquered. Those who have been exposed to his personal charm were less surprised. For them, the surprise — perhaps they should have known better than to be surprised —- came from his willingness to resort to evasion. Faced with a specific question about his attitude towards Israel, the Prime Minister gave the usual answer about a two-state solution, the need for negotiations, etc. A few days later, before a Muslim rather than an American audience, he decided that Gaza is a prison, without mentioning that Hamas is the jailer, and that there are few prisons in which the inmates launch rockets at neighbouring countries.

Perhaps because of their shared hostility towards Israel, the Prime Minister hit it off better with the American President than any since Tony Blair who found a third-way partner in Bill Clinton and a companion-in-arms in George W. Bush. And to his credit, Cameron did it his way. Whereas Blair struggled to avoid acknowledging that Britain is the junior partner in what Obama now calls a ‘truly special relationship’, Cameron found no difficulty in recognising that to be the case. Whereas Blair played down any differences with his American counterpart, Cameron simply acknowledged them and moved on.

No, he would not order an investigation of BP’s role in the freeing of Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi, as the President and a gaggle of senators wanted him to do. But he would make sure that any relevant papers were sent to the BP-phobic Americans. No, he would not abandon his budget-cutting, even if that is contrary to what Obama’s team believes is in order — different strokes for different folks in this matter as with audiences. If Obama feels the US needs another stimulus, fine; Britain will go its own way.