Meyer's "D.C. Confidential"
The Memoirs of Christopher Meyer, British Ambassador to The US
Oct 2, 2007
D.C. Confidential was written by Sir Christopher Meyer, the British Ambassador to the United States, after he left Washington in 2003. His time in the embassy covered the events of 9/11 and the manoeuvrings which led up to the Iraq War, but D.C. Confidential has a lot to say as well on the workings of diplomacy in general, and the relationship between Britain and America in particular.
The “Special Relationship”
One long-running theme which Christopher Meyer tackles is the so-called “special relationship” between America and Britain. Taking an axe to a rather sacred cow, Meyer declares that it is essentially an illusion. American diplomats use the phrase out of politeness, whilst the British press find it useful as a way into any story about America, with the result that the phrase is repeated constantly and lodged securely in the mind of the British people. The long-standing cultural and economic ties between Britain and America do not translate, Meyer argues, into a serious ability to influence American policy on the same level as Israel or Ireland.
He also casts doubt on the validity of the “Third Way” as a genuine political ideology or practice. Given the number of disparate European leaders who have been crammed under the umbrella, along with the New Democrats and New Labour, Sir Christopher suggests that the Third Way looks more like a method of winning elections than of developing and implementing policy.
President Bush’s Image
Meyer also attacks the prevalence in Britain for people to dismiss George “Dubya” Bush as a vacuous puppet, or an illiterate cowboy. Having found the President to be “quick-witted, self-assured, a fast learner”, Meyer told Tony Blair that “It would be a huge mistake to underestimate him.” There is a sense is the book that Sir Christopher is irritated by a British tendency to make a political cartoon out of a leader, and then believe it, especially if it bolsters their sense of self-importance. (BBC correspondents in Washington have made similar complaints.) D.C. Confidential points out the pervading conservatism of American politics when compared to the British variety, but does so without resorting to dismissive stereotypes.
The book also takes a brief look at life in the press office of John Major, and the British embassies in Moscow and Bonn, and Meyer has an amusing stock of anecdotes on these topics. However D.C. Confidential has most to say, and will be most closely scrutinised, on the topic of how Britain and America’s relationship works. Meyer advises that America be treated with the respect afforded a foreign culture: to treat it as Britain writ large is to invite misunderstanding and disaster.
