Hague told not to jump the queue

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, DEC. 28. It is very much like a case of the best man beating the groom to the wedding.

The Tory leader, Mr. William Hague, who has enjoyed a personal relationship with the U.S. President-elect, Mr. George Bush, and is expecting to meet him before his inauguration is now having to bow to the protocol and wait until the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, is done with the new occupant of the White

House. Mr. Blair is likely to meet Mr. Bush a few weeks after he assumes office on January 20.

Mr. Hague who is jubilant over the Republican victory and was hoping to become the first British political figure to be received by Mr. Bush before his inauguration is understood to have been advised by his aides that it would not be in good taste to upstage the Prime Minister.

He has been told, according to The Times, that he `risks a diplomatic row' if he or any other senior Conservative leader decides to jump the queue.

``We are not rushing in there right now, looking for hands to shake,'' a Tory leader has said, adding that a Bush-Hague meeting is likely in the spring, shortly before the general elections in Britain.

Mr. Hague who regards his party as a natural ally of the Republicans hopes to build the same sort of relationship with the Bush administration which Mr. Blair, as the Leader of the Opposition, enjoyed with the Clinton White House.

On many domestic and foreign policy issues, the Tories and the Republicans share a common position and Mr. Hague believes that if the Republicans can win on agenda that is identical to his own then there is no reason why Tories can't make a fight of it in next year's general elections.

In a long article recently, Mr. Hague identified the common areas of the Republican and Tory agenda and suggested that Mr. Bush's victory vindicated the soundness and political acceptability of the policies which the Tories shared.

On domestic issues, both Tories and Republicans stand for `less' government, and on foreign policy Mr. Hague is as enthusiastic about the USA's `son of star wars' project as Mr. Bush, and both have strong reservations about the European rapid reaction force.

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Section  : International
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