Tony Blair is now on the ropes at Number 10 Downing Street, and nobody knows whether a Prime Minister from the apoplectic Left wing of Labour will take over the British government. If the hard Left takes over, look for the Brits to walk away from the Anglo—American alliance that has kept democracy alive in the world for the last century.

The Left lives within its own closed narrative, and will stand up and cheer when British soldiers retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan. They may applaud again when the Mullahs take over the British area of responsibility in Iraq, and loudly put the blame on Bush and Blair.

Whether they will keep cheering when Ahmadinejad explodes his first Bomb is unclear; as for the next terror attack in Britain, the BBC has the story all set up to blame on Israel and America. We made them mad, you see. It's a re—run of thte Sudetenland narrative, where the Czechs made Hitler mad.

Reality is not the strong suit of the Labour Left, which grows from the same Fabian Socialists who welcomed Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and of course, the Hitler—Stalin Pact. Conservative commentators are very worried. Gerard Baker writes in the Times:

The country seems to be in a mood to seize the moment of Mr Blair's impending departure to choose a radical new turn: end the ruinous special relationship with America and construct a new foreign policy that pragmatically chooses ad hoc between go—it—alone bulldog independence and alignment with our European 'partners'. There's a hope that (heir apparent) Gordon Brown, heaven help us, will have a Love Actually moment, seizing the opportunity to declare his independence from the US yoke. A poll in The Times this week suggests that would be popular: a majority now favour much looser ties with the US.

And Melanie Phillips writes, in a column titled "The Labour Party goes mad:

The crucial question at this point in world history is whether the British government post—Blair will be as staunchly Atlanticist as he has been. The Tories have become alarmingly flaky in this regard ... . Gordon Brown is known to have stars and stripes in his eyes, although ominously he has also let it be known that he would ditch support for certain aspects of US policy. For all his faults, Blair has displayed astounding courage and clear—mindedness in never wavering from his support for American foreign policy, despite the fury this has engendered among the voters and the consequent damage this has done to his whole political career. The key issue now in British politics is whether his successor — whoever it will be — will do the same.

So the Brits really might turn tail.

And yet, if you want to see astonishing tales of heroism in combat for the cause of  civilization, just look at the World War II generation, whose passing is now being told in the obituaries of the Times and the Telegraph. Britain's moral decline is told in the difference between those heroes and heroines and today's lesser spirits.

It seems that the West will not be able to see the reality of this war until more disasters happen.

Baker writes:

If the next prime minister is a real leader, and not a mere implementer of the latest public opinion trends, he will take a firm stand against the seductive anti—Americanism that has Britain and much of Europe in its grip.

He should state, categorically, that whatever our reservations, whatever our irritations, Britain will stand with America. Not because Britain is a weaker power that has little choice, or in the hope of some quid pro quo, but because it is the right thing to do.

James Lewis   9 10 06