Poll: Special relationship in trouble, but not dead

Relations between the US and UK have not improved since Barack Obama took office at the start of 2008, a poll of 2,360 Britons said today.

Since being inaugurated as the 44th president of the US, Mr Obama's foreign policy has been characterised by multilateralism and new overtures towards China, India and Brazil.

This has contrasted sharply with the approach of his predecessor George Bush, under whom the US forged a firm bilateral bond with the UK, particularly through his friendship with then prime minister Tony Blair and over the joint invasion of Iraq.

But as the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government finds its feet in Washington, a new poll showed that 74 per cent of Britons believe relations with the US have stayed the same or deteriorated since January 2008.

A YouGov poll for the Legatum Institute and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), conducted between May 10th and 12th, suggests the special relationship still exists, however.

Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they still had a positive view of the States, with 62 per cent regarding Washington as Britain's most important ally.

Despite the close ties between Mr Blair and President Bush being blamed for the former dragging Britain into war, 54 per cent said they regarded a personal friendship between presidents and prime ministers as important.

More pessimistically, eighty-five per cent said Britain had no influence over US policy, although 56 per cent said the war in Afghanistan served US-UK interests.

Only 28 per cent said British troops should be deployed to help protect US-only interests in the future, with the proportion rising to 46 per cent if Britain itself was threatened.

Last week new foreign secretary William Hague made Washington his first official destination to hold talks with US counterpart Hillary Clinton, where he hailed the "unshakeable alliance" between the two countries.

But with Britain superfluous to many of the most important aspects of Washington's foreign policy agency - such as with China and North Korea - and the traditional Tory scepticism towards Europe jarring with President Obama's preference of dealing with Britain and the EU combined, the future of the special relationship is in doubt, analysts claim.

"With a new government in Downing Street, the UK faces a difficult choice about its identity, its role in the world, and in particular its relationship with the United States," commented Dr Lisa Aronsson, head of transatlantic security programme at the USI.

Dr William Inboden, senior vice-president of the Legatum Institute, said the "special relationship is in trouble but it is not dead".

"While it still holds much traction in the minds of the American and British people, it needs sustained attention from the new Cameron government and the Obama administration to return to its former strength," he argued.

"The future of transatlantic relations, and the security and liberty of the global commons, depend on a vibrant alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom."