There isn’t a man, woman or child in America who doesn’t know that there is an election looming. But with the Internet and cell phones coursing with information, escaping presidential politics requires more than keeping the television set unplugged for two years. But like America, the rest of the world has been watching, reading and listening too, wondering all the while what fate lies in store for them when a Western Super Power changes hands. For Britain, it’s the hope of saving a little face.

In December 2001, The Daily Telegraph captured the beginning of a battle of wills between the British public and its government. The headline said it all: “Blair’s Shiver of Fear as Bush Sets his Sights on Iraq.”

“What to do about Saddam Hussein’s Iraq is now an embarrassing disagreement at the heart of the special relationship between America and Britain,” wrote The Telegraph’s journalists. “It has led to a palpable cooling in the hitherto warm discussions held by the White House and 10 Downing Street.”

The pressure had been building in the three months after 9/11, and Tony Blair had to decide if Britain would be friend or for to the Iraq war and consequently, America.

Politics Professor Hugh Miall from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, described in an email how the “widespread unease about Bush’s presidency” in Britain became the undoing force of the Labour party government.

“[Former Prime Minister Tony] Blair’s attempts to place himself within hailing distance of Bush’s positions—while trying to rein back on them-ended up being hugely damaging for the Labour government,” said Miall.

Trying to maintain a relationship with America ended up costing Labour the relationship with their defining ideology: mouthpiece of the people, hand of the laborer, mind of the masses. The majority of Brits did not want to participate in what they considered to be America’s war, with almost two million of them gathering in London in 2003 to form the biggest protest the country had ever seen. Anti-war demonstrators waved signs reading: “Make tea, not war,” and tried to sway Blair from Britain’s Iraq involvement, reminding him that the country’s once crushing imperialism should remain a thing of the past. As the ties became stronger between the leaders of the two nations,  popular sentiment swiftly became anti-Bush/Blair/Iraq. By 2006, even the band, Radiohead, was calling for Blair’s immediate resignation.

“We must throw Tony Blair out of office NOW,” Thom Yorke wrote on the band’s website on February 8, 2006. “He does not represent the views of the British people. He does not represent the views of his foreign office and officials. He does not even represent the views of those in his cabinet. He cares far too much about his relationship with Bush, and Murdoch. The man is not fit to be our Prime Minister.”

When the name “Barack Obama” began to creep its way through England in 2006, the news of his potential candidacy was greeted with modest shock. It wasn’t that England didn’t have any faith in America. It was just hard to fit this new development into the traditional Hollywood-American narrative. Add the Iraq war to blockbuster movies like Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and it could be said that some Anti-Americanism was brewing.
Seeing a woman or a black man as president seemed just about the only two things that the phrase “only in America” would never apply to. Presidential politics were traditionally overrun by the same families, faces and ideas. But suddenly, America unsheathed a double-edged sword and joined the battle for liberalism with Sens. Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Miall says that Britain views American politics with concern because of the influence American politics has on world affairs. Since the onset of Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, leading to Blair’s resignation in June 2007, the Labour party has seen a steady decline in public support. The party currently staggers behind their competitors , the Conservative Party, by 21 points, according to a ComRes opinion poll conducted for the British daily The Independent.
Call it a learning experience. But the British public know very well that a decision made by the President of the United States does not dissolve when it reaches the banks of the Atlantic. Optimists and pessimists alike, many Brits are keeping a close eye on what happens in the coming months. For many, there is still a glimmer of that overused word—hope—for a new start, a new relationship and a new president.

Tags: britain, john blair, u.s.