It has become disturbingly fashionable to vow that Britain must not “slavishly follow America.” David Cameron has said it. Nick Clegg has said it. And I agree. Nor should Britain “slavishly follow” Luxembourg. Or Burma. Or even the Galapagos Islands, green as they may be.
These latter examples are, of course, throw-aways. It is the phrase “not slavishly follow America,” that elicits a set of knowing nods, and guttural “mmmm’s,” that reveal a belief that Britain has, in fact, slavishly followed America. And that this slavishness is summed up in the phrase “special relationship,” which by implication is a discredit to Britain, a disaster for the world, and something to be stopped.
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