KEY POINTS:
George Bush, expert diviner of global statesmen from Nouri Maliki to Vladimir Putin, peered into the soul of Gordon Brown yesterday and found it good. In fact, Bush would have us believe, very good indeed.
"He is a principled man who really wants to get something done," the United States President gushed at the press conference wrapping up the now-traditional pilgrimage of a freshly minted British Prime Minister to the bucolic charms of Camp David, where a day or two among the log cabins of the President's retreat reveals a man's mettle.
A moment later, Bush was at it again. "You've proved your worthiness as a leader," he said (apropos, it seemed, of Brown's education policies). "I thank you for that vision."
By the end, the President was in full flow, extolling "Great British values" and referring to his guest as "Gordon" at least three times.
A two-hour tete-a-tete dinner had shown him that Brown was not the "dour, awkward Scotsman, but the humorous Scotsman". Far from looking always on the gloomy side of things, the Prime Minister was a "glass-half-full man".
The relationship with Britain was the most important bilateral relationship of the US, Bush observed - a remark that may come back to haunt him the next time he meets the leaders of China, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Russia, to name but four other key partners of Washington.
Britain and the US had massive trade and economic links. They had both been attacked by terrorists. They had common interests throughout the world. Above all they both believed in the same basic things, freedom and justice.
At his debut "Colgate" summit here with Bush, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who came to be derided by critics as Bush's poodle, cavorted in a shirt and sweater, and a pair of "ball-crushingly tight, dark-blue corduroys", in the words of the British ambassador of the day. Not so Gordon, who stayed in a dark suit.
Perhaps mindful of the dangers of too much familiarity, epitomised by the infamous "Yo, Blair!" incident, he also did not refer to Bush as "George", preferring the more distant "Mr President".
But it didn't seem to bother Bush. "I found him resolved and firm and understanding," Bush enthused, noting that the Prime Minister had barely entered office before having to cope with a terrorist incident - "and he handled it well".
And, it must be said, he handled his first visit to Camp David pretty well too. But it may not always be so easy.
- INDEPENDENT
