The U.S. and Britain: A special relationship

Clinton and Blair often stood (or sat) side by side on the global stage

By Douglas Herbert, CNN.com Europe writer

LONDON (CNN) -- When Winston Churchill spoke of fostering a "special relationship" between America and Britain in the wake of World War II, he believed greater intimacy would provide a bulwark against an outsized communist menace.

In a different political age, shorn of the Soviet threat, that relationship has lost some of its impetus. Today, analysts note, Israel, and even Germany, are sometimes seen as usurping Britain's traditional role as America's paramount partner.

Nonetheless, as U.S. President Bill Clinton makes what is likely to be his valedictory overseas trip this week, his decision to wind it up with a visit to British Prime Minister Tony Blair underscores the abiding significance attached to dealings between the White House and Downing Street.

It also serves as a reminder of the rapport between two world leaders who have relied on one another for moral -- and even personal -- support over three years during which Blair lent steadfast support as Clinton staved off efforts to oust him from office.

From the moment Clinton first visited Blair at Downing Street in May 1997, shortly after the latter's landslide election, British commentators seized on what they regarded as a symbiosis between two young and energetic politicians with similar political sensibilities.

"Tony Blair and Bill Clinton opened up a new phase of buddy politics yesterday with a rose garden press conference in which they both declared the death of the old ideologies," Britain's centrist Independent newspaper wrote at the time.

BBC television spoke of "two leaders who seemed at ease and with common goals."

Meanwhile, the Express, a tabloid newspaper, described the gung-ho mood at that first meeting as an exercise in political expediency: "Both men have reasons for wanting their administrations to succeed," the paper wrote. "Mr. Clinton, serving his last term as president, is seeking his place in history. Mr. Blair, beginning his first term as prime minister, is determined to win a second term."

Peter Riddell, a political columnist at The Times of London, says Blair quickly proved himself a more palatable partner for Clinton -- and vice versa -- than his predecessor, John Major, whose dealings with Clinton came under special strain after the U.S. president invited Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to the White House in 1994.

"With Clinton, it's been easier for Blair," Riddell said. "Clinton's been very helpful and very supportive" despite occasional problems from time to time.

Riddell added, however, that there was always an built-in disparity in the leaders' relationship. "Whenever you see them together, Clinton is very much the superior politician, and Blair alongside him looks like the younger brother … He (Clinton) is generally a much more instinctive and intuitive politician."

Nonetheless, it was Blair who provided cover to Clinton at a low point in the U.S. president's time in office, in February 1998, shortly after allegations surfaced that Clinton had had an improper relationship with a White House intern called Monica Lewinsky.

At a White House press conference ostensibly held to talk about a U.S.-British standoff with Iraq over weapons inspections, Blair -- on his first official visit to Washington since his election -- awkwardly found himself drawn into the Lewinsky crossfire.

Defending the president, Blair said Clinton's "pretty impressive record" should overshadow any allegations. He urged everyone "to focus upon the issues, which are the issues we were elected to focus upon by our people."

Ten months later, in December 1998, the U.S. and Britain launched a series of joint air strikes against Iraq aimed at degrading Iraq's ability to produce chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.

Later, in March 2000, the leaders found common cause on a far different front when Clinton and Blair issued a joint declaration urging that scientists should have free access to data on the human genome, the human DNA sequence.

The statement came as international researchers were nearing completion of a long effort to decode the DNA in every human cell, a breakthrough they said could revolutionise the way doctors treat disease.

But the relationship has not been without its frictions: During the 1999 Kosovo crisis, Britain briefly took an assertive stance in favour of deploying ground troops in the Balkan province to force then-Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's troops to withdraw.

Clinton opposed the policy, favouring a campaign of targeted NATO air strikes. Ultimately, the two sides patched over their differences. Milosevic ended up withdrawing his troops after a sustained aerial bombardment.

After the war, the two leaders found themselves together again, in company of a different kind: last September, they were among 14 leaders tried in absentia by a Yugoslav court for war crimes committed during the 1999 bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.

The court sentenced Blair and Clinton, along with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac, to 20 years in prison on charges of inciting an aggressive war, war crimes against the civilian population and the use of banned combat means.

On Tuesday, both men were still at large.

Clinton urges N. Irish to clear hurdles
December 12, 2000
NATO leaders sentenced by Belgrade court
September 21, 2000
CNN interview: Blair, Clinton review G-8 summit
May 17, 1998
Clinton quiet on Lewinsky; forceful on Iraq
February 6, 1998

British Government
10 Downing Street
The White House

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