We bark and YOU roll over!

The day after Hillary Clinton paid warm tribute to the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK, the amazing outburst came from two of our High Court judges accusing the United States of demanding that evidence of torture in the case of Binyam Mohammed, a British national held at Guantanamo for four years, be suppressed 'in the interests of national security' (Yawn...oh how many more times?)



It is almost unprecedented for our judges to step into the political arena in quite such a vehement fashion and they were clearly angry that the United States government was withholding vital evidence. But their anger was not reserved solely for the US government but for the British government who, it seems, were aware of what was happening to Mohammed and did absolutely nothing to intervene on his behalf. It would seem, after 4 years incarceration, that no charges will be brought against Mohammed and he will be released.

There is no point in railing against the US government and its inhuman treatment of suspected Al Queda operatives. All that is well documented and took place under the jurisdiction of the most hideous Administration America has ever inflicted on the world. Now we have a new President and it's fair to give him time to clean up America's act.

But it IS reasonable to continue asking what the British government sees its role to be in this 'special relationship'. Yesterday boy wonder Miliband denied that the British had 'rolled over' in the face of American pressure and denied too that the Americans had threatened to withhold intelligence sharing if the British broke ranks on this one.

So our High Court judges lie do you think? They are prepared to risk the full weight of government anger on some sensational press report from the 'Sun' ? I don't think so somehow. LT. Colonel Yvonne Bradley, the military lawyer representing Mohammed, visited him last week and her assessment was blunt. "What the US is doing," she said, "is not about security or intelligence - it's about saving face."

And this presumably is part of what the 'special relationship' is all about. America commits human rights violations at Gitmo and the British help to cover them up. Maybe, as Jeremy Paxman said recently of George Osborne's relationship with his leader, David Miliband should be given a shovel so that he can walk timidly behind the American horse, collecting all its manure and depositing it somewhere where no one will notice the smell. Seems to be our international role in life.