US Election 2012: Who Are David Cameron And The Conservatives Supporting?

Do The Tories Want President Romney or President Obama?
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The US presidential election appears to have had a strange effect on the political opinions and loyalties of Conservative Party politicians.

Traditionally, the left and right in Britain were mirrored and matched across 'the pond'. Labour and the Democrats went hand in hand, as did the Tories and the Republicans.

Think Thatcher with Reagan and Blair with Clinton.

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Cameron's relationship with Romney has been tumultuous

The election of 2012 may have changed all that.

Back in 2008, a survey of Conservative MPs by the Telegraph found that of 91 who expressed an opinion, 63 were backing Republican John McCain while a smaller, though significant, 28 were backing Obama.

Four years later, however, 'Obamania' seems to have taken over the Conservative parliamentary party.

Speaking to The Times, Conservative MP Brooks Newmark said:" I’m one of the only Tories rooting for Mitt Romney; it’s almost like we’re a secret society.

"The general sense in the tea room is that the majority of my colleagues would prefer Obama. They feel more comfortable with him."

Some political commentators have suggested this my be due to the similarities between Obama's leadership style and that of more traditional British Tories.

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Cameron and Obama flipping burgers at No 10

This feeling stretches all the way to the top. David Cameron's relationship with the Republican presidential candidate has been strained to say the least.

A disastrous trip by Romney to the UK over the summer saw him effectively snubbed by the PM after he made disparaging remarks about the Olympics.

According to Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, Cameron said "Mitt Romney has that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him with his various remarks,"

This is compared to the Cameron-Obama relationship which has blossomed over their respective terms despite a rocky start.

The two are said to have "clicked on a personal level" and Obama's visit last year saw the two chummily flipping burgers in the garden of No 10 and heaping praise on one another.

Publicly, Downing Street has not expressed a preference for a winner tomorrow but privately, says a report in today's Financial Times, officials are hoping for an Obama victory.

Senior Labour figures, more able express their opinions in opposition, have publicly declared their support for the US president. Ed Miliband met Romney on his UK visit and was left less than impressed - the latter referred to the former as "Mr Leader".

Of course, Romney still has his true-blue Tory supporters. The work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith spoke out over the weekend against the alleged 'demonisation' of Romney in the British press and praised the Republican candidate's record as a governor and businessman.