British Prime Minister John Major met President Clinton Tuesday in a bid to repair damaged transatlantic links.
But early morning talks with Republican House Speaker Newt Ging-rich showed Major far closer in spirit to the Republican majority in Congress than to the Democratic president.He emerged beaming from an hourlong meeting with Gingrich and described the encounter as "an extremely interesting meeting." He added, "I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Major refused to be drawn on whether his relations with Gingrich were warmer than with Clinton, saying only that Britain had enjoyed a long, close relationship with the United States, with successive administrations and with Congress.
But his tone and remarks by Gingrich left little doubt. "We do feel a special kinship . . . a special relationship," Gingrich said, before paying tribute to Major, who is trying to fight back from record poll lows to a fifth straight Conservative win in elections that must be held by May 1997.
Commenting on the November GOP landslide that left Clinton facing a hostile Congress, Gingrich said: "We in many ways designed our campaign on his successful campaign and (former British premier Margaret) That-cher's."
In a pointed remark in response to a question about celebrations in Britain for VE Day to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender, Gingrich said: "It was a special thrill to meet the prime minister."
British officials have expressed frustration at Clinton's decision not to come to London for the anniversary but to go to a similar ceremony in Moscow.
The VE Day problem came on top of last month's spat over Clinton's decision to give an unrestricted visa to Gerry Adams, head of the Irish Republican Army's political wing.
For a week, Major failed to respond to a telephone call from Clinton trying to make up.
Major and senior U.S. officials like Secretary of State Warren Christopher spent Monday assuring the media that the dispute over Northern Ireland was closed and that London and Washington were back in line on the peace process.
But Northern Ireland is likely to be a top subject in Major's talks with Clinton.
The other subject likely to take up a large part of the Clinton-Major talks was Bosnia.
Britain is opposed to any lifting of the arms embargo on Bosnian Muslims, saying it would lead to a withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers and a bloodbath. But Republicans in Congress are pushing for a lifting of the embargo.