ninme

He’s cheering me up.

The Sunday Times - Does Britain really want to be Belgium?
Sarah Baxter Interview

And true to his warlike leanings, Bolton has some weapons stashed in his locker for Gordon Brown.

“If Gordon Brown knew what he was doing when he appointed Mark Malloch Brown, it was a major signal that he wants a different relationship with the United States,” Bolton says. “If he didn’t know what he was doing, that’s not a good sign either. It symbolises that the British government is moving to the left.” …

As one Washingtonian told me: “Officially, everything is hunky-dory. Privately, it is recognised that there are major loose cannons around.”

Far from wanting the Malloch Browns and Alexanders to pipe down, Bolton is delighted they have spoken up. “My theory is, ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom’,” he says, quoting Chairman Mao (although the Chinese leader never permitted the slightest dissent). Bolton wants the private mindset of the Labour left, the Foreign Office and the United Nations – which has bugged him for years – to be out in the open.

Malloch Brown, he points out, was “simply saying the sort of thing he used to say lurking behind closed doors in the United Nations”, where diplomats have perfected the art of “speaking with four or five faces”. It is important, he suggests, for the United States to “know exactly where the Brown government is going instead of skulking around the hallways”.

“If the Brown government wants to be more European than Atlanticist, let’s hear it. If they would rather not have a special relationship, let’s hear it.” And then comes the zinger: “If they want to be a part of Europe in the same way as Belgium and Luxembourg, let’s hear it.”

Bolton believes Britain must face the question: “Do you want to be an independent country or a county in a big Europe?” The way he tells it is guaranteed to offend our national pride, but you can’t say he hasn’t warned us. “If Britain wants to be subsumed into the European soup, the United States will have to react accordingly – and we will, make no mistake.”

I feel a little bit better, now.