The world stage
- 31 Jul 07, 04:00 PM
New York: We're heading home from the Big Apple after a fascinating two days in America. Today at the United Nations, Gordon Brown looked passionate where yesterday at Camp David he looked ill at ease.
He goes home confident that both days were a success. George Bush declared that America's most important bilateral relationship was with Britain, even a Britain not led by Tony Blair. He showed himself willing to re-make that relationship by, in the words of one Brown aide, donning a tie.
Today at the UN, he signalled that he believed foreign policy is about much much more than how well you get on with the US president.
He has, Team Brown believes, established himself on the world stage.
I leave here though wrestling with many contradictions. The man who's shunned the phrase "the war on terror" has now accepted that there it is a battle and can be called a war. The man who signalled that British troops are on their way out of Iraq insists that British policy has not changed. The man who didn't utter a word in praise for George Bush nevertheless spent many many hours alone with him in what both sides say were productive meetings.
Quite a lot of what we've seen here is about positioning - both at home and abroad. The test in foreign affairs more than anything else is how you respond to events.
PS. Click here to watch my interview with Gordon Brown.
