Giuliani Casts Himself as Heir to Reagan Mantle

Sept. 19, 2007 — -- Honorary knight and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani hopped across the pond to London this week in an attempt to portray himself as heir to the Ronald Reagan mantle.

He met today with three current and former British prime ministers, issued his strongest comments to date about how a Giuliani Administration would "use any option" to prevent Iran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons, and heralded the alliance between the United States and United Kingdom. While there, Giuliani planned to meet with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — Reagan's closest ally and a dear friend — and announced that two of Thatcher's former advisers Robert Conquest and Dr. Nile Gardiner had joined his campaign.

The trip served many purposes, including fundraising and burnishing the foreign-policy credentials of a politician with a largely domestic focus. But much of it seemed part of Giuliani's campaign pitch to Republicans that while he may not be the most conservative candidate in the GOP primaries, he's the one most like Reagan — strong internationally (Reagan with communism, Giuliani with terrorism) and with more general election appeal than his GOP rivals.

Speaking to reporters outside 10 Downing Street after meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, Giuliani heralded the "special" relationship between the two countries, "forged over many, many years with common objectives, common values, tested by war [and] tested by terrorism."

In a roundtable with reporters, Giuliani cast the US-UK alliance as "such a strong relationship that it is going to endure whatever we have to endure to overcome Islamic terrorism," according to the Associated Press.

Giuliani praised how President Bush and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair had led the coalition to remove Saddam Hussein from power, saying "we should be proud that we removed this tyrant and gave the Iraqi people a chance for freedom."

He downplayed any damage to the U.S.-U.K. relationship in the post-war era as "occasional disagreements." It's a relationship "of enduring friendship even if there are contentious issues sometimes," Giuliani said, sidestepping the question when asked whether the time was right for Britain to withdrawal its troops from Iraq.

"I think Britain has to make that decision," he said.