Maintaining the US-UK special relationship

When writing on Gordon Brown taking over as British Prime Minister from Tony Blair in June I had said: "Mr Brown may want to re-examine the extraordinary close friendship that existed between Mr Blair and US President George Bush, which many observers believe was really a one-way friendship and which in reality hardly influenced US foreign policy. We can expect close relations between the two countries to continue, but perhaps on a slightly cooler level."

The first official meeting between Prime Minister Brown and President Bush last week certainly went well and both leaders stressed the importance of the "special relationship" between the two countries, but it is clear that the extraordinary close friendship that existed between Mr Bush and Mr Blair is over.

Mr Brown needs to distance himself from Mr Blair's legacy, especially when it comes to excessively close ties to Mr Bush, while at the same time reaffirm his belief in the need for very close links between Britain and the US. This is what the UK electorate wants him to do, and this is, in my opinion, the right thing to do.

Iraq will no doubt feature prominently in future dealings between the two leaders. Mr Brown - who knows that Iraq was a disaster policy area for his predecessor, mainly as a result of his blindly following Mr Bush - made it clear during his US trip that all British troops could be pulled from combat duties in Iraq within two months.

However, Mr Brown did point out that any decision would only be taken after a crucial report by General David Petraeus on US military strategy is published in September. The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement in Parliament on the future of UK troops in Iraq in October. Mr Brown also hinted that his support for the war in Iraq was not open-ended.

Significantly, during his US visit, Mr Brown described Afghanistan - and not Iraq - as the "frontline against terrorism". He has also put the right emphasis on the importance on politics and the battle of ideas when talking about the struggle against Jihadi totalitarianism.

So clearly, there is a slight shift away from Mr Blair's position on Iraq. One also hopes that Mr Brown will convince Mr Bush, and his fellow NATO allies, of the importance of winning the battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan and to review some of the military strategy that has been so far employed in this conflict - which has caused too many innocent civilian lives, and which no doubt serves only to recruit more Taliban sympathisers.

Although Mr Bush heaped praise on Mr Brown, calling him a "glass half full man, not a glass empty kind of guy", a "humorous Scotsman" who "gets it" vis-à-vis the battle against terrorism, Mr Brown did not reciprocate with any such praise for the President. Furthermore, there were no carefully staged "casual" photographs of the two leaders relaxing together, as Downing Street apparently made it clear that it wanted as few photo-opportunities as possible.

And Mrs Brown did not accompany her husband on this trip, even though it was held at Camp David. "Mrs Brown is not on this trip because it's not that kind of trip," a spokesman for Number 10 was reported to have said. However, during such visits it was common for Cherie Blair to accompany her husband.

These observations may seem trivial, but in reality they are significant. Mr Brown wants to maintain the special relationship - rightly so - but he does not want to be seen to be as close to Mr Bush as Mr Blair was. There is absolutely no contradiction here. Mr Brown surely does not see eye to eye with this neo-con President on all issues, and it is normal for friends and allies to differ on policies without altering the fundamental basis of their relationship.

Mr Blair had been right in taking on his anti-American critics in his own Labour Party, but he was wrong to think that by not differing with Mr Bush he would be able to influence him significantly. Mr Brown is certainly aware of this, and although his meeting with Mr Bush went well, he has cautiously set the tone for a more balanced relationship, and I think that is a good thing.

During his trip Mr Brown emphasised his affinity with the United States, defining himself as a life-long Atlanticist, rather than mentioning President Bush by name. He also made it a point to meet leading Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress shortly after his meeting with the President, highlighting his intention to widen the focus of the special relationship.

So, on the whole, Mr Brown's visit was sombre and businesslike. Both sides reaffirmed their belief in the importance of transatlantic ties and both leaders know that such ties are in each other's national interests. Mr Brown's main challenge now is to preserve these ties while at the same time take hard decisions which might ruffle such feathers in Washington, notably on Iraq. One thing is for certain: there will be no more "Yo, Blair" comments coming from President Bush.