UK plc should welcome the re-election of Barack Obama, former US Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer told the region’s top business leaders last night within hours of the President being re-elected to the White House.
Businesses and politicians across Europe could work with Mr Obama, Sir Christopher told the 400 guests at the CBI South West annual dinner in Bristol.
“He’s a centre-left politician who gets stuff done,” said Sir Christopher, who was sent to Washington as ambassador by New Labour in 1997. “We understand his foreign policy and we can do business with him,” he added.
Questioning the character of the president’s Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Sir Christopher said: “I met Mr Romney many years ago in Salt Lake City and later in Massachusetts where he was state governor. He was a moderate back then.”
But to get elected as Republican presidential candidate he had to be seen to move to the right, said Sir Christopher. That meant there were two sides to Mr Romney – moderate and severely conservative.
“Had he been elected and had it been severely-conservative Mr Romney taking the oath at his inauguration next January, that would have been damaging for the US and the world,” said Sir Christopher, whose term as US Ambassador ended in 2003 when he became chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.
“The question is not why did Obama win, but why did he not lose like Jimmy Carter did in 1980 against Ronald Reagan.
“Although he disappointed after his election four years ago, all the same, he did get stuff done. He saved the US auto industry, he introduced health reform and Osama bin Laden was wiped from the face of the Earth. [The result] is better for Britain and the world. In some ways it’s better the devil you know.”
On the so-called ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US – a phrase used by the British media whenever prime ministers and presidents meet – Sir Christopher said it was no longer relevant and raised expectations about what the two countries could achieve together. He had banned its use when he was ambassador.
“The US is going to be a big, big power for many years to come,” he said. “It remains Britain’s most important ally and partner commercially, geopolitically and in defence matters.
But while the words 'special relationship’ had been important in the post-war years, they had lost their meaning among modern US politicians. He had seen a reminder to use the words hand-written into a speech given by a senior US secretary of state. “It is a means by which our tummies are tickled,” he said.
Sir Christopher stepped in to the keynote speaking role at the dinner at short notice following the withdrawal of BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, who was reporting on the Prime Minister’s Middle East tour.
Guests at the dinner, held at Brunel’s Old Station, Temple Meads, and sponsored by Barclays, were also treated to a lighthearted and humorous take on politics, as well as showbusiness and sport, by impressionist and comedian Jon Culshaw, who combined Tony Blair, George W Bush, Gordon Brown and William Hague with Frank Bruno, David Beckham and Bruce Forsyth among others.
