Recent US government papers describe Washington’s anger with the new aviation passenger duty, Britain’s extradition arrangements with America and lax visa checks on Pakistanis coming to Britain.
The private views of US diplomats include concerns about the new aviation passenger duty which came into force on November 1, which increased the tax on flying to the US by a third. The UK coalition government’s commitment to review what it describes as the one way extradition treaty with the US is also a key concern as are lax immigration rules that the US says have allowed potential terror suspects to enter Britain from Pakistan.
The documents, which will continue to appear over the coming weeks, also describe US concerns that the UK coalition is unstable that Gordon Brown was a weak prime minister. The news is sure to embarrass the US and possibly sour relations between the US and the UK.