Britain's View of the U.S. Race

...as well as permission to raise funds there The Prime Minister has come to recognize, however, that America's controversial intervention in the Ulster dispute has made it easier foi Britain and Ireland to work together toward a still elusive solution to North-em Ireland's troubles London Times political correspondent Peter Riddell maintains that the chief source of friction between the two countries today "is not Mr Clinton but the Republican Congress," which passed the Helms-Burton Act imposing stiff penalties on foreign companies doing business with Cuba, Libya and Iran Britain and the rest of the European Union have openly displayed their fierce lesentment of such extratemtonal legislation It may very well be one reason why, ideological affinities notwithstanding, the British Conservative Party presence at San Diego was so thin and low profile (Maverick Right-wing MP John Redwood, who sought m vain to replace Major last year and is likely to try again was the most prominent Tory in the U.S...

...Race BY NORMAN GELB London Most Americans may be no more concerned about what is happening in Britain than they are about events m Germany, France or even Andorra, but the British tend to keep an eye cocked on the U S scene?through extensive media coverage and "letters" via the BBC from expatriates like Ahstair Cooke, not to mention strong diplomatic representation Thus the Democratic and Republican National Conventions held in August were closely followed here And when former Secretary of State James A Baker, addressing the GOP delegates in San Diego, accused President Bill Clinton of bringing about the worst Anglo-American relations since the Boston Tea Party," the press was quick to challenge him Baker's assertion also raised eyebrows at the Foreign Office Although the mandarins there tend to shy away fi om intruding on American election campaigns, they make no secret of their satisfaction that ties with Washington have lately grown stronger than had been the case for a long time Ironically, the much touted "special relationship" between the two countries actually reached its lowest point in recent decades during the Bush Administration Perhaps more ironic is the identity of the man the British hold most responsible for that unhappy development In her memoir, The Downing Street Years, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (certainly no enemy to the Republicans) wrote conservatively "To some extent the relative tilt of American foreign policy against Britain m this period may have been the result of the influence of Secretary of State James Baker' It is true John Major was outraged in 1995 when Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein—the Irish Republican Army s political arm—was granted a previously denied visa to enter the U.S...

...Fiank Johnson, editor of the Specta-tor magazine, ndiculed the "feel-ill factor" on display in the U.S., where people with problems were given pride of place to milk the tears of the delegates and the viewing audience He suggested that an American politician might one day step forward to confess to a convention that he suffers from the sickness of unpopularity and "Everyone will then cry" Newspaper columnist and television personality Andrew Neil was contemptuous of what he considered the shameful neglect of foreign affairs by both parties 'The world's only superpower is heading for the millennium contemplating its navel," he grumbled, adding that the "politics of the information age [in America] look like being consensual rather than adversanal, emotional rather than issue-driven, and anecdotal rather than analytical" Neil fears that politics in Britain, where Amencan fashions exercise potent influence, may soon be infected by phony friendliness and manip-ulate insincerity Such worries were wryly rejected by Bntish author A N Wilson He insisted that the Bntish people "aren't like the optimistic Amencans, who need merry political rallies, with drum majorettes and balloons The most popular Prime Minister this century had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat' That's the sort of talk which cheers us all up " Nevertheless, the Labor Par-ty apparently feels it can leam from the American political hullabaloo Unlike the Tones, who were conspicuously leery of being too closely associated with the Republicans, the La-bontes made a point of identifying themselves with the high riding Democrats They even held a supportive fringe meeting in Chicago just pnor to the Democratic convention, attended by Labor Party deputy leader John Prescott —the same man who four years ago warned his party against "Clintonizing " Putting his solid Left-wing credentials on hold and no longer openly disparaging Bill Clinton's Rightward dnft, Prescott conferred with Democratic Party strategists on running an effective campaign (Prime Minister Major must call an election before his five-year term runs out next spring, and it could come any time between now and then) Under Tony Blair's leadership Labor holds a substantial lead in the polls, but no one has forgotten that five years ago the party was similarly confident and went down to its fourth straight defeat by the Conservatives In fact, Laborites are currently nervous that signs of economic recovery may generate second thoughts among middle-class Britons who had grown noticeably disenchanted with the Tory government Hoping to counter any surge m support for the Conservatives, Blair has been stressing his own drift to the Right and his determination to pull his party with him To the fury of some Labor Left-wingers, he has condemned recent public service strikes in Britain, given assurances that he plans no tax raises if elected, and expressed interest in American-style "workfare' programs As John Prescott would once have put it, he is "Clintonizing" Taking a leaf from Jesse Jackson and Mario Cuomo in Chicago, Blair s advocates speak of the greater good that would be derived from a Labor Party victory over the Conservatives, even if compromises have to be made To explain residual muttenngs on the Left, Prescott, though still not averse to some complaining himself, contrasts the situation here with the "diversity within unity"he found in the Amencan Democratic Party People there criticize the standard bearer on specific issues, he notes, while offenng him energetic overall support Though less well positioned to pick up tips directly from the apparent frontrun-ners in the States, the Tories have joined Labor in exploiting Democratic campaign expertise Thus both parties are refining their use of focus groups to sharpen the presentation of theirpolicies They are more closely examining their own opinion polls to improve the pinpointing of their messages to specific categones of voters They have established "immediate response" research units to provide instant rejoinders to any point the other side makes And they have turned their carefully rehearsed spin doctors loose on the media It is too early to tell what the effect will be of one of the Republican ploys adopted by the Tories While Labor, like the Democratic Party in the U.S., promises to steer clear of personal attacks on their political opponents, Blair has already been the target of such abuse Indeed, a Tory campaign poster plastered on billboards in many parts of Britain carried things much farther than Republican efforts to demonize Clinton The poster was a picture of Blair s face that accentuated its one deformity—an almost perpetual toothy, silly grin—and superimposed blazing, red, demonic eyes in the place of his The object was to make him look like the devil coming to ravage the poor, deluded people of Britain, who so far seem to genuinely like him Responding to Labor protests, the Bntish Advertising Standards Authority ordered the Conservative Party to remove the posters and not to repeat the offense But Tory campaign strategists, who are now running ads displaying the same Satanic eyes without the rest of Blair's face, bel leve they have found a way to persuade the public of his diabolical intentions...

...at the NORMAN GELB reports regularly for THE NEW LEADER on British affairs time ) Another reason piobably was the pervasive belief that Bob Dole has virtually no chance of ousting Clinton for the White House The Tones painfully recall how angry Clinton got m 1992 when it was revealed that at their urging, the Bntish Home Offi ce had checked its files to see if they contained anything the Republicans could use against him in the Presidential campaign relating to his days at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar Both the GOP gathering and the Democratic conclave in Chicago were generally treated with disdain by the Bntish media Their correspondents and commentators are more attuned to the annual Conservative and Labor Party conventions Though often exceedingly tedious, they do consist of senous debates and lectures, rather than act as venues for ha-giography and razzmatazz The BBC's Charles Wheeler said it all while reporting live from San Diego As yet another speaker stepped up for his allotted five minutes to extol the virtues of Bob Dole, Wheeler, momentarily shedding his cool, analytic demeanor, growled, "Amateus night...