The special relationship is in jeapordy

The debate about the release of the Lockerbie bomber has now moved on from the rights and wrongs of the original decision. We are now beginning to see the wider ramifications of the decision and the effect it is having on Britain’s relationship with the wider world.

In an editorial published yesterday, the New York Daily News asserts that because of the government’s handling of the release of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi the British people are a ‘cowardly, unprincipled, amoral, and duplicitous lot’. Whilst I would like to point out to the editors of the New York Daily News that I would not consider myself cowardly, unprincipled, amoral or duplicitous, I think it is a very accurate character description of our Prime Minister and his conduct over this shoddy affair.

The editorial reflects the anger and resentment in the United States at the decision to release Mr al-Megrahi. Of the 270 people who were killed when a bomb, planted by al-Megrahi, went off on board Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, 180 of those people were American. It is therefore understandable why many Americans share in the disgust that I and many more British people feel at the release of a mass murderer. And we learned yesterday that Gordon Brown supported the release and didn’t want to see Mr al-Megrahi die in jail.

Mr Brown’s conduct during this affair and his sentiment that al-Megrahi should not die in jail has put at risk Britain’s single most important international partnership and potentially soured it for several years to come. I am in no doubt that the United States is Britain’s best friend in global politics and the country we should most seek to align ourselves with. The beacon of freedom for the latter of half of the last century when many parts of the world were locked under the iron thumb of communism, a nation that has exported Anglo-Saxon culture to every party of the world and the most economically prosperous country on earth – America is the coolest kid in school and we should be extremely proud to say we’re its closest mate. From Churchill and Roosevelt to Thatcher and Reagan and most recently Blair and Bush, the ‘special relationship’ has proven to be of benefit to both the UK and the United States.

But we must now thank our dear Prime Minister for putting that special relationship in jeopardy. Not only has Mr Brown managed to mess up just about every area of domestic policy here at home, he’s also decided to go and ruin our reputation on the world stage as well; another achievement to add to Mr Brown’s outstanding legacy.