US Election: Why top Tories are turning their backs on John McCain

[cal04]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/10/do1004.xml

All my adult life I have supported Republican candidates in American presidential elections. Like most Tory MPs and activists, I have wanted to be impressed by John McCain. I went to see him speak at the Tory conference in 2006, expecting to be wowed. Like most others, I left profoundly disappointed by his speech, which was pedestrian and devoid of inspiration. Maybe he was having an off day, I thought.

I felt McCain - as a maverick - could distance himself from the ideological zealots in his party who have done so much to turn it from a political party into a narrow sect. Many of us thought Sarah Palin could give his ticket the "wow" factor Barack Obama had given the Democrats. We were wrong on both counts.

Many Conservative MPs have travelled a similar journey over the past few months - a journey most of us thought we could never make, and a journey that has resulted in a decision to break the habit of a lifetime and declare our support for the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

Tory MP Richard Spring, who doubles as David Cameron's envoy to the City of London, is one of many who have always supported the Republicans, but are now backing Obama. "It's important for America's reputation in the world to be improved and Obama can be instrumental in bringing this about," he says. "He sends out a signal of change."

(snip)
While Cameron remains a fan of McCain, he has been very careful to demonstrate even-handedness, as he knows only too well that Obama is closer to many of his own ideas and goals. Cameron's trusted adviser, Steve Hilton, has wisely been give the task of developing closer relations with Obama's entourage during his six-month stay in California. Could it be that the Tory leader himself is a closet Obama backer?

[jrockford]

1. Yuck. A Tory endorsement isn't what I would go for.

Bunch of murdering bastards...

[LeftishBrit]

2. A couple of points here...

(1) Though British governments are usually pro-American, it is only quite recently that our political party system has become so interlinked with yours. I think the Tories=Republicans association really dates back only to Maggie 'n Ronnie. The idea that Labour corresponds closely to Democrats - or in Blair's case Republicans! - is even more recent. Labour used to be considered as to the left of the main American parties.

(2) There are strong within-party differences in all our main parties (as is true of yours too, of course). Liberal ('wet') Tories are far more similar to Democrats than Republicans. Even very economically right-wing Thatcherite Tories usually lack the theocratic side of the more right-wing Republicans, though there are some exceptions. Iain Dale, the author of this Torygraph article, is openly gay and in a civil partnership, which might in itself make him less than keen on the likes of the 'American Taliban'.

In any case, we don't vote - but if we were really the 51st state, we'd be a very blue state!