Cameron - "UK was a junior partner"

[Thedelldays]

in WW2....

 

:uhoh:

 

what a totally arse licking thing to say whilst in the US....

[trousers]

in WW2....

 

:uhoh:

 

what a totally arse licking thing to say whilst in the US....

 

I thought he was talking about "in today's world", rather than the WW2 period?

[GenevaSaint]

Covered on another thread somwhere, politics probably. He said we were the junior party in 1940 when fighting the axis

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Cameron: "I think it's important in life to speak as it is, and the fact is that we are a very effective partner of the US, but we are the junior partner," the PM told Sky News.

 

"We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis."

 

 

Sorry Dave but the US wasn't even at war in 1940. In fact there weren't even any non-Commonwealth countries for the UK to be partners with let alone be junior partners. Dreadful stuff from Dave that won't go down well with the blue-rinse brigade or those of us who would like a less deferential relationship with the states.

[trousers]

Tories OUT!

[SnailOB]

Cameron is another person taken in by Hollywoods re-writing of history. Maybe he should spend more time reading than watching duff movies. Shameful mistake to make - no excuses.

[OldNick]

Cameron: "I think it's important in life to speak as it is, and the fact is that we are a very effective partner of the US, but we are the junior partner," the PM told Sky News.

 

"We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis."

 

 

Sorry Dave but the US wasn't even at war in 1940. In fact there weren't even any non-Commonwealth countries for the UK to be partners with let alone be junior partners. Dreadful stuff from Dave that won't go down well with the blue-rinse brigade or those of us who would like a less deferential relationship with the states.

Im flabbergasted that he said that about 1940!!!! The Mail will soon put him right

[View From The Top]

1940 was, IMHO, our nations finest hour.

[Ponty]

1940 was, IMHO, our nations finest hour.

 

Year, not hour.

[JustMike]

aargghh this p*ss*s me off, all this licking their arse all the time. if we are the "Junior" to them, pull out of afganistan and let the "senior" lot fight their own pointless war.

[View From The Top]

Year, not hour.

 

I'm guessing that you thought it was a witty remark.

[Jonnyboy]

aargghh this p*ss*s me off, all this licking their arse all the time. if we are the "Junior" to them, pull out of afganistan and let the "senior" lot fight their own pointless war.

 

+1 !

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I would add that the US & Great Britain were both very much 'junior partners' when compared to the enormous sacrifices made by the Red Army & the Soviet people during WWII . Nevertheless the stand made by Britain & its empire (almost alone from May 1940 to June 41) was crucial in the eventual defeat of the Axis .

[RonManager]

I would add that the US & Great Britain were both very much 'junior partners' when compared to the enormous sacrifices made by the Red Army & the Soviet people during WWII . Nevertheless the stand made by Britain & its empire (almost alone from May 1940 to June 41) was crucial in the eventual defeat of the Axis .

 

Not disagreeing with you, but the enormous losses suffered by the Red Army and the civilian Russians were caused in the main by the brutal and merciless military tactics employed by Stalin on his own troops and people - basically 'don't worry, there's plenty more where they came from!!' He even carried on killing them after the war because they had been POW's and were, therefore, traitors.

 

As far as David Cameron's ignorant outburst goes, well, he's a politician, which probably explains it. We know they're talking shoyt because their lips are moving.

Edited 22 July, 2010 by RonManager

[Jeff Le Taxi]

My Grandfather would've walked to Westminster and slapped the bodygaurds, then Cameron himself for saying that! if he was still alive, absolutely no respect from Cameron to our finest generation of real fighting men!

[Lord Duckhunter]

Cameron had a better education than 99.9% of the British population, so this was a pathetic mistake to make.Personally I'm fed up with the whole "special relationship", "Lapdog" "Junior parner" pony that British politicans seem to have indulged in since Mrs T and RR, our whole Foregin affairs policies for the past 30 years have been measured against our closeness to the US.The French,Germans and the rest of Europe owe us & the Americans their freedom (along with countless brave people from the world over) and yet they still speak out when we're wrong and look after their own interests. Our Foregin policy should not be based on WW2 alliances and the cold war.

 

Broadening the discussion slightly, there is a anti American feeling in this Country and some of it is down to the approach our Senior officals take to them. I've lived and worked there and met some lovely people, there are also plenty of arseholes (much like most other countries). I'm convinced that our leaders sucking up to them contributes to the hatred some people feel for the Country.America was built up by millions of poor immigrants, I just fail to understand the left's, and it is mainly the left's, hatred of it.

[Ponty]

I'm guessing that you thought it was a witty remark.

I'm guessing you didn't.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Broadening the discussion slightly, there is a anti American feeling in this Country and some of it is down to the approach our Senior officals take to them. I've lived and worked there and met some lovely people, there are also plenty of arseholes (much like most other countries). I'm convinced that our leaders sucking up to them contributes to the hatred some people feel for the Country.America was built up by millions of poor immigrants, I just fail to understand the left's, and it is mainly the left's, hatred of it.

 

Perceived American imperialism I think is the root cause of this, however that is not to say that I believe America went into Iraq purely for 'democracy'...

[View From The Top]

I would add that the US & Great Britain were both very much 'junior partners' when compared to the enormous sacrifices made by the Red Army & the Soviet people during WWII . Nevertheless the stand made by Britain & its empire (almost alone from May 1940 to June 41) was crucial in the eventual defeat of the Axis .

 

I don't think anyone with any knowledge about WW2 would argue that the war wasn't won on the Eastern Front but 1940 was a seminal point in this nations history and stretched into 1941 with the Battle Of The Atlantic.

[View From The Top]

Broadening the discussion slightly, there is a anti American feeling in this Country and some of it is down to the approach our Senior officals take to them. I've lived and worked there and met some lovely people, there are also plenty of arseholes (much like most other countries). I'm convinced that our leaders sucking up to them contributes to the hatred some people feel for the Country.America was built up by millions of poor immigrants, I just fail to understand the left's, and it is mainly the left's, hatred of it.

 

I lived and worked in the States and as a people I found them really nice. However, their insistence that "The American Way" is the only way irks the left. The survival of the fittest ethic does not sit comfortably with the liberal democracies of Europe where our brand of social democracy is more inclusive.

 

In addition, the war in Iraq (to a lesser degree Afghanistan) is seen by plenty as an American war of aggression that we were dragged into. That war certainly changed the view of people I know who were indifferent at best about the yanks beforehand.

 

All, of course, IMHO.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I lived and worked in the States and as a people I found them really nice. However, their insistence that "The American Way" is the only way irks the left. The survival of the fittest ethic does not sit comfortably with the liberal democracies of Europe where our brand of social democracy is more inclusive.

 

In addition, the war in Iraq (to a lesser degree Afghanistan) is seen by plenty as an American war of aggression that we were dragged into. That war certainly changed the view of people I know who were indifferent at best about the yanks beforehand.

 

All, of course, IMHO.

 

I do tend to agree with that.

 

I think the most misunderstood people of the devoloped world are the American South, they are protrayed either as hillbillies or racists. I found them to be neither and amongst the nicest people I've ever met. Then again I find the French pretty friendly as a whole, so perhaps I'm a bit strange.

[Trader]

It's time we told the Americans that we don't have a "special relationship" with them.

 

But of course they already know that.

[Trader]

And have done for years.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Not disagreeing with you, but the enormous losses suffered by the Red Army and the civilian Russians were caused in the main by the brutal and merciless military tactics employed by Stalin on his own troops and people - basically 'don't worry, there's plenty more where they came from!!' He even carried on killing them after the war because they had been POW's and were, therefore, traitors.

 

As far as David Cameron's ignorant outburst goes, well, he's a politician, which probably explains it. We know they're talking shoyt because their lips are moving.

 

I quite agree , Stalin was quite as murderous and brutal a dictator as any of his fascist opponents , in some ways he was actually more ruthless than Hitler .

 

This undeniable truth however shouldn't detract from the magnificent effort the Soviet people put into defeating Nazism , and the terrible price they paid . The point I was really trying to make is that we in the west do tend to underestimate the crucial role the Red Army played in the war . A few weeks after D-Day for instance the Soviets won what may well be the largest victory of WWII when then virtually destroyed the German 'Army Group Centre' (Operation Bragaton) - yet how many on here have even heard of this battle I wonder ?

 

As a patriot and a history fanatic I'm enormously proud of the heroic role our little country played in the war , but If I remember correctly around 9 out of 10 German battle casualties were actually suffered on the Eastern front - that is the true measure of where that terrible war was really won and lost .

[Mao Cap]

That statement manages to be embarrassing in three different ways!

 

Firstly it's just plain inaccurate. Say what you like about our education system, but even the thickest of 10-year-olds know the rough chronology of the second world war; Jesus, apart from the Tudors it's the only bit of history most English kids have a half-decent grasp of! To have an Oxford graduate get something like that wrong is unbelievable.

 

Secondly, the grovelling "special relationship" guff spouted by UK politicians (which always has a slightly clingy, pathetic air to it) is becoming outright cringeworthy. The traditional dynamic between the two countries, with "WASP" Presidents with ties to the British Isles and a lingering (and entirely misplaced) sense of cultural inferiority on the part of the Americans in relation to us, passed into history years or perhaps decades ago. For a long time we have been just another European country to the people and government of the US; they just don't consider us all that important, for the very good reason that we're NOT that important! Hence there's no need to do all this gay sucking-up trying to save a "special relationship" which doesn't exist.

 

Thirdly, there's little reason to bring the second world war into a speech on modern transatlantic relations at all, aside from maybe a brief mutual pat on the back for the sacrifices made by GIs/Tommies during the war and how the fight against Nazism brought the nations closer together and all that sort of thing. It's just not relevant, and like I said our establishment really needs to move on from this obsolete "playing Greece to their Rome" bullsh*t.

[dune]

An utterly ridiculous comment from David Cameron.