However, the relationship has on occasion been called into question, for example during the Suez crisis and the Vietnam War.
The Suez crisis was described to be a ‘humiliating defeat’ to Britain (Cochrane, Anderson [1989] p17) and America was very much against it and threatened to abandon their support of the pound unless Britain pulled out (Coxall et al [1998] p262). So in regards to the Suez crisis there was some disagreement from America and relations were momentarily cooled. However, it was not just the US who disagreed with Eden’s handling of the Suez crisis. The British public were extremely disapproving as well, as were the USSR, the United Nations and the Commonwealth (Coxall et al [1998] p262).
A case where Britain did not agree with America was during the Vietnam War (1964). The British public did not believe it was within their interests to become involved and as Coxall and Robins point out perhaps some Britons enjoyed the fact that it was America’s turn to experience their own ‘version of Suez’ (Coxall et al [1998] p276) so at that point the relationship was at a low.
Regardless of the conflicting opinions which have occurred in relation to certain situations there have been times where Britain and America have been extremely close and this is best reflected in the relationships between political leaders, for example Thatcher and Reagan (Childs [1992] p292) and more recently Blair and Clinton (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, Norton [2001] p608).
Thatcher often referred to the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America (Budge, Crewe, McKay, Newton [2001] p562) and supported the US on a number of issues, for example the US bombing of Libya in 1987 (Cochrane et al [1989] p24). Krieger states that the changes which came about over the Thatcher years were a result of a ‘consolidation of power by the Reagan and Thatcher governments’ (Krieger [1986] p18). Reagan and Thatcher were very much alike in their policies (Krieger [1986] p15) and shared a very close relationship as leaders and friends (Duignan et al [1994] p69). Reagan was said to very much value the special relationship with Thatcher and Britain in itself and this was shown in a variety of ways for example, the support shown during the Falklands War in 1982 (Duignan et al [1994] p69). However in 1989 with the election of Bush the ‘special relationship’ was unclear. Thatcher did not connect with Bush in the same way that she had with Reagan and US foreign policy took a less ‘Anglophile direction’ (Jones et al [1994] p607).
Blair and Clinton can both be said to have reinvented left wing politics (the third way) and have worked together on a number of issues for example, NATO enlargement (Jones et al [2001] p608). However, Britain could fail to criticise important issues in an attempt to hold on to this ‘special relationship’. At the second World Summit in 1997 Clinton failed to commit the US to much involvement in environmental protection. When Blair failed to confront Clinton, John Gunner (former environmental sectary) challenged Blair with, “is the Bill and Tony show so important to this government that it is frightened of straight talk between friends” (Coxall, Robins [1998] p497)? With the election of Bush in 2000, some thought the ‘special relationship’ would die down as Blair and Bush initially did not share a personal friendship (The Guardian, 18.12.00). However with the events of September the eleventh Blair announced Britain would stand shoulder to shoulder with America and an alliance with Bush was formed.
Now in 2003, Blair is forced to argue in a major forgin policy speech that the relationship with America is ‘not because they are powerful but because we share their values’ and although this may be true the British public are still sceptical over any conflict with Iraq (The Guardian, 08.01.03). This suggests that although there may be a special relationship from a political perspective, the British public do not wish to be so involved. This could be for a number of reasons one being that anti-Americanism is a force which seems to be growing stronger (Sardar, Davies [2002] p8) and one only has to look to the terrorist attacks on the twin towers to see how violent this force can be. Perhaps the scepticism of Britain’s relationship with America is simply because Britons do not want to be a target for anti-American terrorism. In addition, further concerns have been voiced regarding the fact that the UN has not backed America over a possible conflict with Iraq which questions Britain’s involvement. Does Blair wish to preserve the ‘special relationship’ regardless of whether Britain’s actions are wrong?
To conclude, there certainly has been a ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America which still exists to this day. Both countries share the same values, religion, language and policies. In addition, American and British political leaders have tended to form friendships both politically and personally. In times of crisis usually both countries have offered support and this is most apparent in the reaction of Blair to the terrorist attacks on America on September the eleventh 2001. Of course at times there have been disagreements but this seems an inevitable consequence of an alliance between any two countries. It appears impossible to have a ‘special relationship’ without any difference of opinion and perhaps that is why the present situation seems to be causing much dispute within the British public. With no UN backing the public fail to see Blair’s motives in an attack on Iraq and it appears that he may be attempting to simply secure the special relationship with the ‘hyperpower’ (Sardar et al [2002] p11). Perhaps he truly believes (to put it in his own words), “Strength and control in today’s world means forging alliances or falling behind” (Richards, Smith [2002] p139). Although Britain may be the junior partner in the alliance it is important to accept that any country would be the junior partner if they were to form an alliance with the US. Therefore, politically the ‘special relationship’ with America is not a figment of Britain’s imagination. However, whether it exists for the right reasons remains uncertain.
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