Five long, agonizing days after its general election, Britain finally has a new Prime Minister. In the wake of Gordon Brown's resignation, David Cameron will form a coalition government between his center-right Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats — prompting American observers to ask what this resolution might mean for the U.S. Historically, conservative prime ministers and U.S. presidents have often been simpatico (Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan worked closely, for example). Pundits weigh in: (Watch David Cameron introduce "a new politics")
We may have lost a key military ally: Tony Blair's alliance with Bush over Iraq was so "deeply unpopular" in Britain, says Jackson Diehl in The Washington Post, that its new conservative leaders want to avoid "excessive deference" to the U.S. Could our largest military ally withhold its support if we end up in a new war — with Iran, most likely? "Let's hope we don't have to find out."
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