Analysis: For now, at least, the old pals act is firmly on a solid footing

FOR David Cameron and Barack Obama the last few days have been a welcome distraction from the rough and tumble of domestic politics.

As the British Prime Minister flies home, no doubt looking forward to using his gift from the US president to host a barbecue at 10 Downing Street, and as the Obama family hone their table-tennis skills, has the evident mutual admiration of the two leaders done anything to advance Anglo-American relations?

They agreed on almost everything. The timetable for withdrawing from Afghanistan and their approach to Syria and Iran were never going to be contentious issues. The only discordant note in their discussions, was when Cameron raised the fairness of the extradition treaty between the US and the UK. A review of its operation is promised.

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The visit was stage-managed to perfection. Chiefs of protocol on both sides of the Atlantic can be congratulated for devising events symbolic in their re-affirmation of the centrality of the “special relationship” in British foreign policy.

For Cameron, after his recent disagreements with Britain’s European partners, being feted by the president has been a heady experience. By not meeting the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, all of whom were pre-occupied with the primary campaign trail, the Prime Minister has offered a tacit endorsement of the Democrat in the White House.

This is not to say that the course of transatlantic relations is always smooth.

The Suez Crisis of 1956 came close to causing permanent damage to the Anglo-American alliance. When Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of the Commonwealth island of Grenada in 1983, his ideological soul-mate Margaret Thatcher, whom he had not consulted prior to action, needed an apology.

So Obama and Cameron should not take too much for granted, but both can be secure in the knowledge that for now, at least, their “special relationship” appears more robust than ever.

• John Roper is professor of American studies at Swansea University