board77

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Media pundits on both sides of the Pond delight in telling us that the "special relationship" between us and the USA is over. And all this because while Tony Blair got on well with presidents Clinton and Bush (why not, he was virtually their errand boy) Gordon Brown gets on with no one and, after taking up residence half-way up the insane Gaddafi's burka, certainly not with Barack Obama.

The fact is that this remarkable post-1945 amity between the West's two leading democracies, financial centres and military forces has little to do with personal schmoozing between the two heads of governments. True, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were best buddies and jointly destroyed global communism. But the White House never liked Wilson or Heath or warmed to John Major. That is not what it is about.

The real relationship is between the professionals at many levels: diplomatic, intelligence, military. At any time there are a thousand collaborations going on below the radar. Intelligence sharing is absolutely vital. In view of the huge apparatus, most is from them to us but we occasionally respond with a mother lode of extreme value. Listen to the US generals in Afghanistan lauding the courage and professionalism of our soldiers. It is not feigned.

As for the highest level, Barack Obama can smell a multiple loser a mile off and sees no point in cultivating Gordon Brown. The relationship is based on common interests, common standards, common language and trust.

Politicians come and go, common cause survives. President Obama probably has seven years, Gordon Brown seven months. The real professionals know that.

We have been around for 200 years. We can wait 200 days.