The failure of the Americans to launch a bold new peace initiative in the Middle East is exhibit one for Europeans who argue that Mr Blair's Atlanticism has paid no dividends.
The closeness of Anglo-American military and intelligence ties, driven by the cold war, became a defining feature of British foreign policy and a source of tension between Britain and France, which led de Gaulle twice to veto British membership of the then European Economic Community, on the grounds of Britain's irremediable Atlanticism.