Conservatives, liberals craft a governing coalition in Britain

If politics makes strange bedfel- lows, the new government in Britain certainly takes the prize for being one of the strangest. Two parties at the opposite ends of the political spectrum have come together to form the first coalition government since World War II, and already they’re sounding like old chums.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party, which won the most seats in last week’s parliamentary election, but not enough for a majority, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, which actually lost seats, remain divided on many issues, but they are unified in dealing with the most pressing problem confronting Britain today, the record 153 billion-pound ($236 billion) deficit.

Cameron and Clegg, whose political star ascended during the nationally televised debates, also pledged to institute sweeping reforms of parliament, civil liberties laws and on ties to Europe, and a renewed focus on Afghanistan. It is this last issue that is of great interest to the United States.

President Obama lost little time in telephoning Cameron after he was asked by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose Labor Party suffered a major defeat at the polls after 13 years in power. Obama said Wednesday that Britain’s new prime minister reaffirmed his country’s commitment to defeating extremism in Afghanistan. The president said he is confident that the new British government recognizes that success in Afghanistan is in the interest of all nations.

Obama’s remarks came during a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is in Washington for a series of meetings.

Britain’s support of the NATO-led war in Afghanistan is crucial, given that American and coalition forces are preparing a major offensive in Kandahar, which is a Taliban stronghold. The success of the military campaign is essential not only for the stability of the Karzai government in Kabul, but for the morale of the Afghanistan people and the foreign troops from various nations led by the United States.

Troop withdrawal

While Cameron and Clegg both support the mission in Afghanistan, the prime minister has previously said that he hopes to withdraw British troops within five years. Clegg has said he’s uneasy about a rising death toll.

But it’s the country’s financial challenge that makes foreign-led military operations problematic.

Although Britain is America’s chief ally in Europe, the new foreign secretary, William Hague, told the BBC that the Cameron government wanted a “solid but not slavish relationship” with the U.S.

Hague, former leader of the Conservative Party when it was the opposition, did characterize the special relationship between the two countries as being of “huge importance.”

He added that the two countries are indispensable partners in intelligence and nuclear matters, in international diplomacy, and in what the U.S. and its allies are trying to accomplish in Afghanistan.

It is too early to tell whether the strange bedfellows will survive the expected clashes, but both the prime minister and his deputy did say they intended for the government to be in power at least for five years.