Credit:angus-reid.com

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Britain are under the impression that current prime minister Gordon Brown is not as close to United States president George W. Bush as his predecessor was, according to a poll by YouGov. 74 per cent of respondents think Brown is less close to Bush than Tony Blair was.

In addition, 45 per cent of respondents think Brown has got the relationship with Bush "about right", while 21 per cent consider he is too close to the American president.

In June, Brown officially became Labour leader and prime minister, replacing Tony Blair. Brown had worked as chancellor of the exchequer. Blair served as Britain’s prime minister since May 1997, winning majority mandates in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections to the House of Commons.

During Blair’s premiership, Britain committed troops to both the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led coalition effort in Iraq. In his address to the U.S. Congress in September 2001, Bush declared, "America has no truer friend than Great Britain."

Earlier this month, Brown discussed his personal feelings toward the U.S. in a speech, saying, "It is no secret that I am a life long admirer of America. (...) I have no truck with anti-Americanism in Britain or elsewhere in Europe and I believe that our ties with America—founded on values we share—constitute our most important bilateral relationship."

Polling Data

Gordon Brown has recently been speaking about Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with America. Thinking about this, and his relationship with U.S. president George W. Bush, from what you know do you think Mr. Brown...

Do you think Gordon Brown is now...

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,983 British adults, conducted from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, 2007. No margin of error was provided.

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