Probably a bit off-topic, but on that note why did Blair support the Irak war? Throughout Europe the trend was generally opposed to the war, and Blair in particular seems like a bad fit for supporting it?
I would imagine most of Labour's base was oppsoed to the war, and in fact I would not be surprised if there were more supporters of the war among the Conservatives in 2002!
Why did Blair side with Bush over Chirac and Schröder? Especially when Blairism is not that far from what Schröder was doing in Germany
Britain, France, and Germany have jostled with each other for a while. They have two main goals in foreign policy traditionally: to assume leadership in Europe, and to become America’s closest friend. Blair believed that the latter could bring about the former and, as such, he regularly flirted with Clinton and Bush.
Chirac and Schröder were influenced by two different strands. In Gaullist France, France had had a nuanced special relationship with the Soviet Union, which was only reversed under Mitterand. Chirac sought to return to the days of French independence from American foreign policy. Similarly, Germany’s foreign policy was heavily influenced by Scheel and Genscher, especially the latter.
Genscherism was the balancing act between East and West, which eventually led to Germany’s leadership in Europe. These two men, seeing that they could hardly tie themselves as close to America as Blair had, sought European leadership by refusing to join in with the war.
