A leading American political adviser has launched a stinging attack on David Cameron's foreign policy. John Podesta has sharply criticised David Cameron's approach to the European Union.
A leading American political adviser has launched a stinging attack on David Cameron’s foreign policy. Writing in a personal capacity, John Podesta – a former aide to President Clinton and President Obama, and President of the Center for American Progress – has sharply criticised David Cameron’s approach to the European Union.
Mr Podesta was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998-2001 and co-chair of President Obama’s transition from the election to inauguration. On the website of his think tank, the Center for American Progress, he wrote:
“America’s “special relationship” needs to be with a Britain that is at the heart of, and making the case for reform and openness in, the European Union…
“Worryingly, under David Cameron’s leadership, the Conservative Party’s traditional Euro-skepticism has become more extreme. Consider, for example, his decision to have Conservative members leave the European People’s Party—the mainstream center-right grouping within the European Parliament that includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP—to form a new parliamentary group with a maverick collection of racist, homophobic, and xenophobic members of the European Parliament.
“Beyond the obvious political symbolism this entails—it is hardly good for Britain’s prestige when its European parliamentarians sit with those who have argued the election of a black U.S. president hails the end of civilization—the decision also illustrates Cameron’s willingness to forgo political influence to placate extreme elements of his own party.
In tonight’s debate, Nick Clegg described David Cameron’s alliance as “a bunch of nutters, homophobes, anti-Semites, and climate change deniers.”
Disclaimer: I worked for the Center for American Progress from 2008-09.
34 Responses to “Former Obama transition chief slams Cameron’s EU policy”
Dave Cole
Obama aide to Cameron: fuck you http://bit.ly/aNogTA
Obama aide slams Cameron on Europe | Political Scrapbook
[…] Hat-tip: Left Foot Forward […]
Sim-O
(via @davecoleDOTorg) Cameron getting it wrong with the Americans http://bit.ly/aNogTA
Peter Harrison
Dr. Sarah Wollaston, the high-profile Conservative candidate for Totnes, is censoring comments on her website and refusing to answer voters’ questions. Our questions involve an internal Tory report on Poland’s homophobic and racist Law & Justice party that was never released and denied by the party. Edward McMillian-Scott MEP, who challenged the Tory alignment, was expelled from the party without notice or reason.
The Tory alliance with Law and Justice is an issue of substance and widespread concern. Law and Justice are one of the grouping of far-right parties – described as “nutters” by Nick Clegg in the TV debate of Thursday 22.4.10 – that David Cameron has joined in Europe. We demand that Dr. Sarah re-instates all deleted comments immediately, publicly apologises for suppressing legitimate debate, and answers these questions:
1. Why was the internal investigation into the Conservative party’s alignment with Law and Justice launched?
2. Why was the investigation covered up?
3. Why was Edward McMillian-Scott MEP expelled from the party without notice or reason?
In recent days nine comments have been removed from Dr. Sarah’s chatmap, including the following:
“Could we see the links to the aforementioned blog please so that we can decide for ourselves whether it is offensive? I ask this because I have observed two very reasonable comments being deleted from this thread today – both of which were requesting clarification on very specific points, and ought to have been fairly straightforward to deal with.”
Visit http://www.drsarah.org.uk/chatmap. Demand that Dr. Sarah stops the censorship, stops attacking our rights and answers the questions.
For full correspondence and links to evidence, see http://bit.ly/ToryQs and see http://www.drsarah.org.uk/chatmap/ [‘Alleged homophobia’] for original posting.
Danny Carrington
Tories aligned with "a maverick collection of racist, homophobic, and xenophobic members of Euro Parliament" http://bit.ly/9TyNTk #toryfail