On Thursday Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and Robert Gates, the secretary of Defence, both made remarks about expenditure on the United Kingdom's armed forces. Americans are marked-out usually for their courtesy and intelligence. Not these two.
What impossible behaviour, commenting publicly on matters central to our government's spending review and, presumably, attempting to exert influence over it. No-one doubts that allies consult one another on how much is spent on defence and how this expenditure is allocated. International commitments both by treaty and by agreement are assumed to be sacrosanct, to be observed until altered after negotiation with others party to the treaties. Alllies are always in private contact over resources and allocations.
Public comments suggesting that the UK Prime Minister is unaware of his country's undertakings or might decide to unilaterally renege on them are an indication more of the third-rate stuff Clinton is made of than any effective kind of warning or policy pressure.
She was given her job because it was necessary to make a gesture within American Democratic party politics. Since then she has wandered about the world damaging US interests when she has not been irrelevant. In the case of the UK defence review she has been irrelevant, if impertinent, which will be why David Cameron has simply ignored her.
Hillary Clinton is to the United States what Cathy Ashton is to the European Union.
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