UK newspaper STUNNED by new PM Brown praising Bush

[Bluebear]

The bold and capitalization is the newspaper's, not mine.

====
PM hails Bush's leadership


"Tee cosy ... Brown & Bush in Camp David golf buggy"



GORDON Brown last night praised George Bush for leading the global war on terror — saying the world owed America a huge debt.

The Prime Minister vowed to take Winston Churchill’s lead and make Britain’s ties with America even stronger.

Mr Brown stunned critics by THANKING President Bush for the fight against Islamic extremism, and insisted the UK-US relationship will be his No1 foreign policy priority....

“We acknowledge the debt the world owes to the US for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007350097,00.html

[regnaD kciN]

1. See what happens when he gets back home...

It's not surprising that Brown would pay lip-service to Bush while he's the Chimp's guest. But words spoken at summits (think of all of Captain Crotchsock's lip-service to solving the Israeli-Palestinian situation, for example) matter much less than actions (or lack thereof) taken thereafter.

It certainly hasn't escaped Brown's notice that the demise of Tony Blair was directly related to public anger over the Poodle's subservient relationship to his American master, and the Iraq mess that has resulted for the U.K. Since I doubt Brown really wants to lose to the Tories, I would suspect he will return to 10 Downing Street with a very different agenda than what he seemed to hint at in his visit to Chimplandia.

[Lasher]

3. I don't know, this looks like more than lip service.

These statements by Brown go further than they needed to if he were just trying to conciliate a host.

[Demeter]

4. Maybe Brown Is Trying to Avoid Repercussions

If Brown spreads the butter thickly enough, so that W is appeased, Bush may slip and fall, instead of offing Brown in retaliation for cruel truths.

[madokie]

10. Captain Crotchsock's, I like that

[global1]

2. Remember When He First Took Office The Terror Attacks In The UK......

those were probably warning shots across his bow to get him to support *. If he didn't - he could probably expect more of the same.
Just a tinfoil hat thought.

[aquart]

5. "Probably"? No.

And Britain is quite used to terror attacks on its soil. They have the IRA.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Yes, those ingenious terrorist attacks.

Nothing like two morons setting themselves on fire and driving their car into an airport terminal to put the fear of Bushco in 'em, eh?

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[KiraBS]

16. Exactly....

Somehow our airports are still full of people flying to Lanzarote so people have clearly got over their fears about terrorists at airports. Security has always been tight at airports and most of us have been taught to report suspicious packages or behaviour since the IRA.
Most of British worried about rain, floods and getting clean water, the terrorist attacks have passed people by.
We had a few more police on the streets, which bothered the kids playing truant from school more than anyone else.
Every event that was supposed to happen in London at that weekend of the car bombs, still went ahead, the Diana Concert, Wimbledon and Gay Pride and the following weekend the Tour De France started here, Live Earth took place and the Wimbledon Finals, the attacks have been extremely useless at bring the country to a hold. The rain was much more effective.
And Gordon Brown was so worried he rushed to meet Dubya, oh wait he did not, he waited a whole month before meeting him and then faced Bush's press with words Bush clearly could not understand and made no sign that he wanted to Bush's new best friend.

Read this BBC articles, for how the meeting of Bush and Blair is being reported in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/gordon_brown_usa_07/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6923453.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6922840.stm

[madrchsod]

6. the sun is one of murdoch`s rags ...

heck of a job brownie!

[UKProPeace]

8. Yep, this is a right wing machine

No serious political watcher takes what the Sun says seriously....they're more renowned for their page 3 girls than true journalism.

[T_i_B]

9. No to mention the current "Great White Shark off Cornwall" stories

Which have about as much journalistic crediblity as the Loch Ness monster.

As to the article, I think their reporter must be really dizzy after that much spinning.

[UKProPeace]

18. Hi Thankfully, aren't their reporters always dizzy?

;)

[dipsydoodle]

12. Right wing newpaper

which supported Labour in the last two erections. Odd really.

[UKProPeace]

19. Yep, all those Murdoch - Blair chats might have been

interesting to listen in to.

[Wiccan Warrior]

11. Looks like Bu$h has a new lap dawg huh? HERE BOI, HERE BOI come on boi...n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Not stunned - pleased (as noted, it's a Murdoch rag)

It's saying the critics are stunned. The Sun is happy about it - from later in the article (again, their emphasis):

He must show the Americans he is every bit as trustworthy with the Special Relationship as Tony Blair.

Washington feared he would weaken ties over the Iraq War and rising anti-Americanism in the Labour Party and Europe.

The appointment of the anti-US Lord Malloch Brown as a Foreign Office minister has been a major headache.

But the PM stressed America and Britain will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder.

From what passes for a Sun editorial:

The President has shown resilience and toughness just when the free world needed it.
...
That’s why the world needs Mr Brown to take up where Tony Blair left off to preserve our way of life.
...
Labour MPs and Europeans who are foolish enough to rant against America should remember.

If it wasn’t for American sacrifices, all our lives would be very different today. So arrogant liberals like Lord Malloch Brown should take heed of the PM’s strong words.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,31-2007350083,00.html

The Sun is currently supporting Gordon Brown, and trying to drag him as right as possible inside the Labour party. Malloch Brown is the ex-Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, who always had big fights with John Bolton, and who, when Gordon Brown made him a minister (it's unusual for people to be brought in from outside politics) was thought to indicate a more distant relationship with the US - he made the speech saying the UK and US wouldn't be "joined at the hip" from now on. It seems Murdoch has ordered a slime job on him.

[C_U_L8R]

14. People say the darndest things

with the treat of blackmail dangling over them.
Bush's TIA strikes again ???

[KiraBS]

15. The Sun ?!!

Actually Newsnight on the BBC were saying how little Gordon Brown praise Bush yesterday.
They could see the distinction between saying the relationship with Bush is important and the relationship with America is important. At the press conference Bush looked like he didn't understand what Brown was saying. But Brown has loved America for a long time and his respect for the relationship is not about Bush,it was about the country. Brown was seen as a little colder and the relationship between Brown and Bush are more business like than Blair and Bush.
This has also happened on the day that British news was full of stories about the poverty that large numbers of Iraqi people are living in as a result of the war.
Brown has honed his skills in diplomacy in the last thirteen years, working under Tony Blair's leadership, the press know that you have to look carefully at his words because the message is often underneath.
The significant thing is that he was talking about working with the UN, he will speak to the UN today and I think that will be revealing. In The Daily Telegraph he had been quoted as saying he wants to use more diplomatic routes.
Don't judge Brown because he was polite to a US President, he is very different and very low key compared to Blair but he gets things done.

[UKProPeace]

20. Hi Kira

I think you've got it spot on there...I didn't watch Newsnight last night, it was one of those days yesterday, but at least they appear to have picked up on some of the subtleties not picked up on by some others.

[LeftishBrit]

17. I wouldn't go by anything the 'Sun' says

It's a right-wing Murdoch rag; an unreliable scandal-sheet; and deliberately targeted at people with relatively limited education (and he'd like to keep them limited!) During the miners' strikes of the 1980s, it's said that in some areas, miners who continued to work were taunted by their fellows with cries not of 'Scabs!' or 'Blacklegs!' but 'Sun Readers!!!'