Has Tony Blair's Heir Apparent Upset the Bushies Over Iraq?

This from the Spectator:

During Dr Rice's recent visit to London, the Secretary of State broke off from her formal engagements to meet Mr Cameron... With Blair firmly in the twilight of his premiership, Washington is keen to establish good relations with his potential successors, and in this spirit Dr Rice was keen to meet the 'new Tony Blair'. But before securing him a coveted invitation to the Oval Office, she first wanted to establish that he was 'sound' on Iraq. 'But he just didn't come through, 'one of Dr Rice's aides told me shortly after the meeting took place in an anteroom at the Savoy Hotel. 'We were looking to him to make some kind of conciliatory gesture over Iraq, but he just wanted to sit on the fence. And that is not the kind of place we expect our allies to be.'

http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php?id=7484&issue=2006-03-18

If he does eventually become prime minister, maybe he won't be a poodle to the US like Blair.

Wishful thinking by the right-wing rag The Spectator.

David Cameron is the leader of the Tory party. He describes himself as a compassionate conservative (sound familiar to anyone?). He's an ultra-privileged toff for whom marrying into the royal family would probably *decrease* his social standing.

He's against the war in Iraq precisely because the country at large is against it and Tony Blair is for it. This is for political gain, nothing more.

Tony Blair's heir apparent is Gordon Brown, the Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. David Cameron is highly unlikely to become Prime Minister here in the UK, he may be saying the right things and he may appear to be mr nice guy, but he's got the entire Tory party behind him, and that's a lot of baggage.

judgement on David Cameron for the time being.

It may be entirely possible that a modern Tory party will move to the left.

I think Cameron has more "charisma" than Brown, he has the support of most of the press, and he doesn't have the baggage of 12ish years of government, and probably a slightly nasty leadership battle not too long before the election, behind him. I think he's more likely than not to be our next Prime Minister, alas.

If Cameron gets in next time - I won't be slashing my wrists.

A spell in opposition might be good for Labour. They need to sort themselves out!

It's not like Cameron is going to destroy the health service.

As for education - he can't do any worse than Blair.

- a UK citizen (and active Labour Party member 1987-97)

Remember that at present it's in his electoral advantage to appear as moderate and un-nasty as possible, and so he's trying to do so. However, as soon as the going gets tough he'll need to shore up his core vote, at which point he'll scurry back to the right, I suspect.