Washington – Prime Minister Gordon Brown traveled to the United States on Sunday, saying he planned to use the official visit to strengthen what Britain already considers its “most important bilateral relationship.”
“It is a relationship that is founded on our common values of liberty, opportunity and the dignity of the individual,” Brown said in a statement. “And because of the values we share, the relationship with the United States is not only strong, but can become stronger in the years ahead.”
Brown arrived at Andrews Air Force Base with British foreign secretary David Miliband. The prime minister flew by helicopter to Camp David, where Bush drove the two of them away in a golf cart after doing a playful 360-degree maneuver in front of the gathered media.
Brown arrives with some thorny issues to manage, not least the fate of Britain’s remaining soldiers in Iraq. In London, The Sunday Times reported that Simon McDonald, Brown’s chief foreign policy adviser, recently traveled to Washington and discussed the possibility of an early British military withdrawal from Iraq.
Other difficult issues include the American push to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the Iran nuclear showdown, Darfur and the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo.
