British Prime Minister Gordon Brown underscored on Monday that he was intent on preserving his country's close bond with the United States, as he conferred with President George W. Bush at Camp David.
But Brown is also expected to keep a distance from Bush on issues like Iraq in their two days of talks at the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains, where they were meeting for the first time since Brown succeeded Tony Blair last month as prime minister.The Iraq war, concerns about Iran's nuclear program, climate change and the effort to revive the Doha round of world trade talks are on the agenda. Brown also plans to seek support for a package of measures to try to end the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
The reserved, somewhat formal Brown is seen as unlikely to form the kind of close bond that his gregarious predecessor had with Bush. At their first meeting, Bush famously remarked that he and Blair used the same brand of toothpaste.
Brown will be keen to avoid anything that might encourage the British media to tag him as "America's poodle," the label reporters gave Blair, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Blair's closeness to Bush angered the British public and contributed to his decision to step down early.
Still, U.S. and British officials have sought to play down any notion of a cooling in ties between their countries.
Invoking Winston Churchill's idea that Britain and the United States shared a "joint inheritance," Brown expressed solidarity with America in fighting terrorism in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Monday.
"I believe our Atlantic partnership is rooted in something far more fundamental and lasting than common interests or even common history," Brown said. "It is anchored in shared ideals that have for two centuries linked the destinies of our two countries."
