Sir Peter Westmacott

Guardian UK: British ambassador says of US: 'I don't think this is a country in decline at all' - In his final month in Washington, Sir Peter Westmacott reflects on the Obama years, from the political row over a Churchill bust, to a country up in arms over income equality, to the president’s legacy: ‘The balance sheet doesn’t look bad’

Earlier this month the British parliament did vote to extend bombing from Iraq to Syria, and Westmacott denies the charge of Cruz and others that the coalition is too passive. “The issue is not so much a lack of leadership or lack of courage. It is about careful deliberation as to what public opinion and parliamentary opinion is going to feel is reasonable, but also what works, what makes things better. If it had been clear what the answer is to the terrible human suffering in Syria was at an earlier stage, if the answers had been easy, we would have taken them.”