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See also: US media on the new UK government

Host | 13:32 UK time, Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Now that David Cameron has moved into 10 Downing Street, the US news media is working out what to make of him - and of the future of the US-UK relationship:

A New York Times reporter offers this :

Likable, quick on his feet, informal, self-assured, his easy charm a vivid contrast to the tortured, self-lacerating intensity of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr Cameron seemed at times to be gliding into power, so effortlessly did he take to the cut-and-thrust of British parliamentary politics.

Deployed to London, scratches his chin and ponders the future of the "special relationship":

Officials in and out of government here say Britain needs a more hard-headed relationship with the United States, in keeping with what they see as Obama's approach to Britain and the world. Some fear that the comfort of a "special relationship" can become a substitute for serious thinking about Britain's role.

Britain under David Cameron will remain one of America's most reliable and important allies. But the balance in the relationship may continue to change, as the new British government makes its way in the world.

says good-bye to Gordon Brown:

Never having been elected and serving only three unpopular years as prime minister after many more in waiting, Brown won't be remembered as one of Britain's great leaders, and that's probably deserved. All the same, the outgoing prime minister has a good case to claim that he's been a victim of historical circumstance. On the main factor that propelled David Cameron into 10 Downing Street, the global financial crisis, even Brown's opponents admit he has "mostly made the right decisions."

But after 13 years under what should probably no longer be called "New Labour," British voters are hungry for a change.

holds little hope for the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government holding:

A short and turbulent marriage, terminating in an early election, is a distinct possibility - and might not be the worst thing, from Cameron's point of view. Depending on the circumstances, the Tories could hope for re-election with a working majority: "This time, give us a chance to do the job." A brief and bitter experience of coalition government as the fiscal roof falls in could silence demands for proportional representation for the next 20 years.

Links in full

Sarah Lyall | New York Times |

Dan Balz | Washington Post |

Joshua Keating | Foreign Policy's Passport blog |

Clive Crook | The Atlantic |

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