Poor David Miliband is probably thoroughly weary of listening to those who fondly remember his Marxist father, Ralph, scratching their beards, shaking their heads and saying "Just what would Ralph have made of young Dave?" Well, I expect that Ralph Miliband would be as proud of his son as Tony Benn is of his equally New Labour son, Hilary. That pride, I suspect, would not necessarily transcend some pretty insurmountable political differences. Miliband junior's contribution to the debate on Britain's relations with the United States, initiated by someone who does know what he is talking about, Mark Malloch Brown, is a particularly fine example.
Malloch Brown last week stated the blindingly obvious; that Gordon Brown would not be "joined at the hip" with President Bush, as Tony Blair was. Since even some of the president's most senior senatorial colleagues, such as Richard Lugar are now refusing to be joined at the hip, and are pushing for a staged withdrawal of the US military to bases in Iraq, Gordon Brown would be a chump to even consider being bound to a lame-duck president. In any event he is happily preparing to shake hands with President Hillary Clinton.
Both Malloch Brown and to a lesser extent Douglas Alexander, have simply injected some realism into what is still laughingly described in some quarters as "the special relationship". It is the bare minimum to help persuade the great British public that the United Kingdom is not Airstrip One and will not continue to act as President Bush's sepoy.
Miliband's breathless denial that anything has changed is neither clever nor particularly helpful for the many Americans who still can't quite believe how Tony Blair threw his lot in with George Bush, while ministers such as messrs Brown, Miliband and Alexander kept their counsel. David Miliband is reckoned by some to be extremely clever, which he probably is, but others will see him as wet behind the ears. In any event, the US does enjoy a special relationship - not with Britain, but with Israel, and it may be time for Dave to wake up and smell the coffee.
