Cameron reflects on thirty minute meeting with President Bush

Flanked by two Stars & Stripes flags (no Union Flag!) David Cameron and William Hague have just completed a press conference at Washington's Hay Adams Hotel (which serves the very best corned beef hash I've ever tasted).

Here are the highlights:

• David Cameron held a "very positive" thirty minute meeting with the President.
• They discussed Iran, Afghanistan, the importance of a free trade deal and the need to include India and China in action against climate change.  [I wonder if this emphasis on China, India and other developing countries may be strategically important as international conservatives consider next steps on the environment.]
• Later today, David Cameron will be meeting the Treasury Secretary, the Head of the World Bank and Secretary of State Rice.  That's about as high profile a visit as you can get.
• I asked David Cameron if he agreed that the surge in Iraq was delivering results.  He agreed that it had created space for political improvement but the "political surge" was yet to happen.  William Hague added that there had been a significant improvement in the security situation but this was partly due to the decision of tribal leaders to turn against al-Qaeda and its sickening violence.
• In reply to a question from John O'Sullivan, Mr Cameron said that America was Britain's single most important relationship.

Comments

[Anon]

Sounds to me as if the President did the talking and the dynamic duo did the listening then.

[Tony Makara]

Sounds like a lot of ground was covered which is a good sign that dialogue flowed freely.

[cawp]

Oh man. How the tide turns! This comes at such an interesting time: frankly the British people are all begging for Brown just to GO at this point, and let Cameron be our PM. He is rising, as the Weekly Standard wrote this week, to our chief of hopes, and leader-in-waiting of Britain.

[Tony Makara]

cawp, very true. Labour's relationship with the white house was always built on egg-shells, now things are returning to normal again. We all remember the great productive meetings between Margaret Thatcher and President Reagan, so hopefully prime minister Cameron will enjoy similar good relations with the president of the day. Good stuff.

[Opinicus]

What is he doing stuck in the US?
He should be here capitalising on Labour's troubles not being photgraphed with a President all the voters identify with Tony Blair.

[rotay]

This is so utterly pointless.

What a non story. Bush is beyond the pail.

It won't help his image or his credibility. it makes DC look lightweight. He should be in the UK!

[Diablo]

Rubbish! Cameron should be acting like an international statesman at precisely this time. The necessary and proportional damage is being inflicted on Brown and his odious crew by the Conservative team and the media.

It's important for the Conservatives to be engaging with the US administration as this is important to build the channels of communications that will be required with whoever is the next President.

[Steevo]

Flanked by the stars and stripes... he's on the right path! God bless the next Brit PM.

[NW Supporter]

Why all this anti-American sentiment? They are our best friend, and while Blair has many faults, the relationship he developed with Bush was one of his better points.

One thing is for sure - seeing Cameron in DC, flanked by the stars and stripes as the international statesman will not do him any harm.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Hardly any commentary on this visit in either the Times or the Mail today. I'm not sure if that's agood or bad thing.
It seems that in their 30 minutes they discussed foreign policy, trade policy and climate change. So about ten minutes on each? Not sure what either man could gain from such a short conversation!

[Letters From A Tory]

David Cameron has no idea whether he will be working with the Democrats or Republicans when he becomes Prime Minister, but there is no harm in building some bridges at this stage.

[John Ionides]

Well done, Cameron. While it must be tempting to be around London to gloat, it shows precisely the right instinct to let Labour self-destruct while building the global links that are to good international relations when in government.

John

[Londoner]

I have often posted on here with criticism of Bush, but of course it's right that Cameron should be meeting the incumbant President of the most powerful country in the world, a country which, whatever we might think of its present President, is indeed our most important ally.

The silly people who say "stay at home" betray a complete misunderstanding of virtually every aspect of this. Just to mention two: when the Govt is digging its own grave there is no need, and no advantage, in being seen 24 hours a day helping them to do so. For the Leader a well aimed clout with the nearest shovel once a week at PMQ is as much as he should do. Second, don't these idiots realise that these appointments have to be set up a long time in advance (like Ruanda in the summer) and if you cancel just because of whatever happens to be going on that week domestically it is extremely rude, bad for relations and you might not be invited back.

[passing leftie]

Why all this anti-American sentiment? They are our best friend, and while Blair has many faults, the relationship he developed with Bush was one of his better points.

Anti-Bush is not anti-American. Bush is one of the worst presidents America has had and is a lame duck. This sentiment is shared by the vast majority of Americans.

[Mark Fulford]

Bush is one of the worst presidents America has had and is a lame duck. This sentiment is shared by the vast majority of Americans.

Interesting.

Bush's approval ratings are 33% approval to 61% disapproval.

Brown's approval ratings are 23% approval to 59% disapproval.

Does that mean that we can officially say that Brown is even worse than Bush, "one of the worst presidents America has had"?

[passing leftie]

Does that mean that we can officially say that Brown is even worse than Bush, "one of the worst presidents America has had"?

You can say what you want. You can even wear it on a t-shirt.

Bush's record in office is what makes him one of the worst presidents the US has had; Brown's record is primarily as one of the most successful and long-lasting chancellors we've ever had, and he hasn't been Prime Minister long enough to make a judgement as to his success. He's had a lot of bad luck, and he's not handling that as well as Blair, that's for sure, but there's a lot of time between now and the next election. Cameron does have the advantage of not being a completely uncharismatic lame-duck leader (cf The Embryo, the Night Thing and The Frog), but the party he leads hasn't changed.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Passing leftie- 'he's(Brown) had a lot of bad luck'.
Yeah right.

[Ash Faulkner]

"Anti-Bush is not anti-American." (13:22)

Of course not. But not talking to Bush is not talking to America.