Mitt Romney would restore 'Anglo-Saxon' relations between Britain and America
Mitt Romney would restore "Anglo-Saxon" understanding to the special relationship between the US and Britain, and return Sir Winston Churchill's bust to the White House, according to advisers.
10:00PM BST 24 Jul 2012
1472 CommentsAs the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America's enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London.
In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.
Mr Romney on Wednesday embarks on an overseas tour of Britain, Israel and Poland designed to quash claims by Mr Obama’s team that he is a “novice” in foreign affairs. It comes four years after Mr Obama’s own landmark foreign tour, which attracted thousands of supporters.
He lands in London early on Wednesday morning, in advance of meetings with David Cameron and other senior ministers on Thursday. He will also meet Ed Miliband and Tony Blair before attending two lucrative fundraisers and the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
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He used a speech in Nevada on Tuesday to accuse the President of drastically weakening America’s stance towards rivals such as Russia, China and Iran while imposing “devastating” spending cuts on the US military.
"If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on earth, I am not your President," he told the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "You have that President today". Promising another "American century" in which the US acts as the global night watchman and does not hesitate to "wield our strength" when needed, he said: "I will not surrender America’s leadership in the world".
Members of the former Massachusetts governor's foreign policy advisory team claimed that as president, he would reverse Mr Obama’s priority of repairing strained overseas relationships while not spending so much time maintaining traditional alliances such as Britain and Israel.
“In contrast to President Obama, whose first instinct is to reach out to America’s adversaries, the Governor’s first impulse is to consult and co-ordinate and to move closer to our friends and allies overseas so they can rely on American constancy and strength,” one told the Telegraph.
“Obama is a Left-winger," said another. "He doesn’t value the Nato alliance as much, he’s very comfortable with American decline and the traditional alliances don’t mean as much to him. He wouldn’t like singing ‘Land of Hope and Glory'.”
The two advisers said Mr Romney would seek to reinstate the Churchill bust displayed in the Oval Office by George W. Bush but returned to British diplomats by Mr Obama when he took office in 2009. One said Mr Romney viewed the move as “symbolically important” while the other said it was “just for starters”, adding: “He is naturally more Atlanticist”.
Mr Obama has appeared less interested in relations with London than Mr Bush. He repeatedly rebuffed Gordon Brown when the then-prime minister sought a meeting at the UN in 2009 and was criticised for responding to an elaborate gift with a set of DVDs that did not work in Britain.
A change in tone was reflected by the enthusiastic welcome extended to Mr Cameron during an official visit and dinner in March. However, British diplomats remain frustrated by their “transactional” relationship with the Obama White House and lack of support on issues such as the Falkland Islands.
Mr Romney has not made any commitments on the Falklands, but several in his foreign policy team favour backing Britain and publicly rejecting claims of sovereignty by Christina Kirchner, the Argentine president. Under Mr Obama the US remains neutral.
The advisers could not give detailed examples of how policy towards Britain would differ under Mr Romney. One conceded that on the European crisis: “I’m not sure what our policy response is.”
However they said Mr Cameron and Mr Romney, who is being advised by several former Bush aides and other neo-conservative thinkers, shared a seriousness towards the threats of Islamist terrorism, a potentially nuclear-armed Iran and the challenging consequences of the Arab Spring.
Mr Romney has pledged to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, threatening military action more stridently than Mr Obama. He said on Tuesday that only a “complete cessation” of uranium enrichment by Iran was satisfactory – a stronger demand than the White House’s.
"The same ayatollahs who each year mark a holiday by leading chants of 'Death to America' are not going to be talked out of their pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said in his speech.
After leaving London, he will deliver a speech in Jerusalem on Sunday, again threatening Iran and criticising Mr Obama for declining to visit Israel since taking office. He will give another speech in Warsaw on Tuesday.
He also attacked Mr Obama on Tuesday over the "contemptible" alleged leak of secrets about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the drone campaign against al-Qaeda and cyber-attacks on Iran.
The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because Mr Romney’s campaign requested that they not criticise the President to foreign media. After another adviser criticised Mr Obama in a German magazine last month, the President sharply instructed them that “America's political differences end at the water's edge”.
Mitt Romney criticises Barack Obama's stance on Israel and Iran
9:19AM BST 25 Jul 2012
Mitt Romney was speaking to a war veterans' group in Reno, Nevada when he made strongly worded attacks on the foreign policies of Barack Obama.
The Republican candidate said Mr Obama had alienated Israel, the United States' main ally in the Middle East, after an open microphone caught the president criticising Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.
"The people of Israel deserve better than what they have received from the leader of the free world," Mr Romney told the assembled veterans.
He then questioned whether the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran had receded in any way during the four years of the Obama administration.
Mr Romney went on to assure the audience that he would face-up to China over alleged currency manipulation as well as copyright and patent theft. "The president hasn't done it and won't do it and I will", he said.
