BRITAIN TODAY – RELIEF – AT 7:34 P.M. ET:  Dr. Liam Fox, originally trained as a medical doctor, has been named the new British secretary of state for defense, the equivalent of our defense secretary.

That is a relief for us.  Fox is the closest thing you'll get to a Maggie Thatcher in today's Britain.  Profoundly pro-American and pro-defense, he'll safeguard, to the extent budget cuts allow, British defense.

Britain's Ministry of Defense is not in good shape.  Fox, on a trip to New York last year, told us the extent to which leftish political correctness has crept into the place.  Under current policy, officers are not permitted to wear their uniforms to work, on grounds it might make civilian workers uncomfortable.  I kid you not.  That policy will be reversed.

William Hague will be foreign secretary.  He's basically an okay guy who sometimes strays a bit from the true transatlantic faith, but is committed to the alliance.  From the Wall Street Journal, reporting on a new interview with Hague:

Hague also said the new government would have a "solid but not slavish" relationship with the U.S., saying that undoubtedly disagreements would arise but that the special relationship between the two countries remained important.

He said the U.S. remains "in intelligence matters, in nuclear matters, in international diplomacy, in what we're doing in Afghanistan, the indispensable partner of this country."

I hope our White House feels the same.  Better put that bust of Churchill back up in the Oval Office.  There's a new sheriff in London town.

May 12, 2010