The appointment of Sir Mark Malloch Brown as the United Kingdom’s new minister for Africa, Asia, and the United Nations represents the clearest sign yet of a break with the pro-U.S. stance of the Blair government. Malloch Brown, the former chief of staff and deputy to ex-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, is known for his stridently anti-American views and fierce opposition to the war in Iraq. His selection by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown sends a clear signal that his administration will adopt a more openly critical stance toward U.S. foreign policy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ADVERTISEMENT
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It is extraordinary that in the midst of a global war on terror led jointly by Britain and the United States, the new P.M. has chosen a hugely controversial figure as one of his chief international spokesmen, a man who can barely disguise his contempt for the current American administration. Other than outspoken former International Development Secretary Clare Short, it would be difficult to think of a prominent British politician more disdainful of present U.S. foreign policy than Mark Malloch Brown. His appointment will be viewed in Washington as a slap in the face for the Anglo-American alliance, and does not bode well for relations between the Brown government and the Bush administration.
Although Malloch Brown will not be a full member of the Cabinet, he will be entitled to attend some Cabinet meetings. He is expected to become one of the most powerful voices in British foreign policy after David Miliband, the newly appointed foreign secretary. Sir Mark will find some common ground with Miliband, who was himself privately critical of the Iraq war, and had attacked Tony Blair’s support for Israel during the conflict with Hizbollah in 2006. A seasoned veteran of international organizations, Malloch Brown may well overshadow his vastly less-experienced superior, the youngest foreign minister in 30 years.
Just weeks before his appointment, as the
New York Sun’s
Benny Avni reported, Malloch Brown was made vice president of the multibillion dollar Quantum Fund, headed by international financier George Soros, a fiercely partisan figure in American politics. He was also appointed vice chairman of the Open Society Institute, another Soros-funded body. It is unclear whether he will maintain his ties to Quantum and Open Society while serving as a British government minister.
Sir Mark served as Kofi Annan’s right-hand man during the massive U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, and played a lead role in downplaying the U.N.’s own failings, bringing him into conflict with both the Bush administration and leading senators and congressman on Capitol Hill, who were pressing hard for reform of the world body. Before joining the Secretary General’s office, Malloch Brown was head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from 1999 to 2004, a spectacularly dysfunctional U.N. agency that has recently become embroiled in a major scandal involving money laundering by the North Korean regime.
As chief spin doctor for Annan, Malloch Brown was an outspoken critic of American leadership on the world stage, and a constant thorn in the side of the United States. Sir Mark launched an unprecedented attack on Washington’s approach to the U.N.
in a major policy speech in New York in June 2006, despite the fact that Washington gives over $5 billion a year to the U.N. system, more than France, Germany, China, Canada, and Russia combined.His remarks were rightly described by then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton as “condescending and patronizing”, and “a very serious affront” to the American people. Bolton called on the U.N. secretary general to repudiate his deputy’s comments, which he viewed as “the worst mistake” by a U.N. official in a quarter century.
