British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the White House for the first time as Prime Minister yesterday. At a time when the United States is engaged in a war in Afghanistan, when Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, and while the world economy is teetering through a weak recovery, one would hope our press corps would focus on lasting issues of physical and economic security. Unfortunately the press conference and the media coverage focused exclusively on the Scottish government’s release of the 1988 Lockerbie bomber and whether …
David Cameron’s visit to the United States this week offers the prime minister a major opportunity to assert a stronger British presence on the world stage after a period of notable decline under Gordon Brown. On both Afghanistan and Iran, two key issues likely to feature heavily in his White House meeting on Tuesday, his position should be clear: Britain will stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States in defeating the Taliban and standing up to the Iranian nuclear threat. The world needs robust U.S.-British leadership, which has been …
In an important speech at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday that demonstrated the new British government’s commitment to standing shoulder to shoulder with the U.S., Dr. Liam Fox, the British Secretary of State for Defense, issued a blunt warning that the U.S., Britain, and its allies in Afghanistan need to “hold our nerve” and “see the job through.” But in the question and answer session following his speech, Dr. Fox pointed out that when British Prime Minister David Cameron visits Washington later this month, he will be the third British …
Seven of the eight economies ranked most free in the Index of Economic Freedom were once British colonies or trade posts. It’s no coincidence. Political institutions developed by the British such as representative democracy and rule of law provide a vital base for economic freedom. Yet the U.K. no longer has the distinction of being ranked in the top ten freest economies. Its economic freedom score has fallen significantly in recent years due to expensive welfare programs that have eroded economic freedom and slowed growth. The U.K.’s predicament is an …
In the latest issue of The Economist, a correspondent – Dewi Williams, a senior lecturer in European law at Staffordshire University – writes in to complain about the unfairness of the British dislike of the European Union. Williams argues that the reason why the EU is unpopular in Britain is because the EU hasn’t done enough to promote itself, and the benefits of EU membership. It’s important to point out, first, that Williams is calling for the use of British money to fund EU propaganda aimed at the British themselves. …
Back in March I wrote a piece condemning Hillary Clinton’s foolish decision to side with Argentina’s calls for negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falklands. Three months on, she’s done it again. As Damien McElroy reported, the United States joined with the Organisation of American States (OAS) in an unanimously passed voice vote resolution earlier this week calling for negotiations between London and Buenos Aires, a position which is completely unacceptable to Great Britain. The United States should have firmly rejected the resolution as an affront to its closest ally, …
Labour leadership contender John McDonnell’s comments on Margaret Thatcher are a sickening disgrace, and a stain on his party. In a leadership debate today, McDonnell stated that if he could return to the ‘80’s he would “assassinate Thatcher”. As LabourList recorded (hat tip: Jonathan Isaby): John McDonnell says he was on the GLC – and that if he could go back in time and do one thing, he would visit the 1980s and “assassinate Thatcher”. I have had the honor of working for Margaret Thatcher, and, like anyone who has …
DefenseNews, an influential U.S. publication, is running an editorial headlined “Britain’s Defense Choices: What To Cut.” The piece is an object lesson in how not to think about Britain’s defense problems going forward. The piece doesn’t start out badly: it points out that Britain’s armed forces, all told, are smaller than the U.S. Marine Corps, that the forces have been cut for years to make ends meet in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the result is a huge, unfunded modernization bill. And now, with the OECD reporting that Britain, with …
The results of the UK elections and the new coalition government that has resulted have sparked much commentary and debate. But few Americans actually understand how the British election system works. In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Ted Bromund, senior research fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, explains how Britain’s election and government-formation system differs from America’s, and what this year’s results mean to the special relationship between our two countries. Listen to Heritage in Focus: Ted Bromund on the UK Elections here.
When Britain’s new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, walked into his office last week, he found a letter from his predecessor, Liam Byrne. Laws assumed it contained useful advice. But when he opened the envelope, he found that the letter – which he characterized as “honest but slightly less helpful” than he had expected – had only a single line: Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left. And so there isn’t. Americans don’t realize just how bad Britain’s situation is. True, Britain’s not …
