US and UK politics have mirrored each other since post WWII

[Thunderbird is the word]

 While the UK was until arguably Cameron always slightly to the left domestically of the US it's funny that Labour and the Democrats or the Tories and Republicans have usually been in power at around the same time. Both moved to the right in the 80s with Clinton and Blair somewhat solidifying that in the 90s. Also the Prime Ministers and Presidents have mostly paralleled each other. Is there an explanation for why this is?

Clement Atlee=Harry Truman
Anthony Eden=Dwight Eisenhower
Harold Wilson=LBJ (moreso then JFK because of his working class background)
Edward Heath=Richard Nixon
James Callaghan=Jimmy Carter
Margaret Thatcher=Ronald Reagen (obviously)
John Major=George HW Bush
Tony Blair/Gordon Brown=Bill Clinton
David Cameron=George W Bush
Ed Millaband=Obama (assuming he wins)

[Ebsy]

It's Ed Miliband, and he's absolutely nothing like Obama.

[Ebsy]

It's Ed Miliband, and he's absolutely nothing like Obama.

Edit: And comparing Bush to Cameron is really not fair to Cameron at all. More rather, Blair is sort of like a combination of Clinton and Bush.

[Thunderbird is the word]

It's Ed Miliband, and he's absolutely nothing like Obama.

Edit: And comparing Bush to Cameron is really not fair to Cameron at all. More rather, Blair is sort of like a combination of Clinton and Bush.

He kind of is in the sense that he'd likely be the second round of new labour in the same way that Obama ended up being the second DLC.

[buritobr]

US and UK politics have mirrored each other from 1945 to 2000. During this 55 year period, there were 40 years in which US and UK politics were aligned. Democratic president and Labour prime minister or Republican president and Conservative Prime Minister. There was no aligment only in 1952, 1961-1964, 1969, 1975-1976, 1979-1980 and 1993-1996.

In the 21st century, US and UK politics oppose each other. They were aligned only in 2009, when Obama was the president and Gordon Brown was the prime minister.

http://blogdomarcelobrito.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/os-estados-unidos-e-o-reino-unido-se.html

 

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

My knowledge of British politics is admittedly limited, but it seems to me that Gordon Brown was basically the equivalent of Al Gore only he actually made it to the top job.

Cameron is like the younger Bush in that he focused on issues that usually belong to Labour/Democrats.

Also, the electoral cycle got off track starting in '92 because Major won and the elder Bush lost. Thus, 1997 was the British equivalent of 1992, 2001 the equivalent of 1996, and after that there's not much of a parallel.

[Beet]

Also, the electoral cycle got off track starting in '92 because Major won and the elder Bush lost. Thus, 1997 was the British equivalent of 1992, 2001 the equivalent of 1996, and after that there's not much of a parallel.

This.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

This thread hurts my intelligence on so many levels.

[Sumner 1868]

Much of this was historical accident more than anything.

[buritobr]

Maybe a coincidence.

France used to be countercyclical. In the late 1970s, the USA (Jimmy Carter), the UK (James Calaghan) and the FRG (Helmut Schmidt) had center-left governments, while France had right-wing government (Giscard d'Estaign). The crisis of the late 1970s changed the orientation of the governments of the four major western democracies. In the early 1980s, the USA (Ronald Reagan), the UK (Margaret Thatcher), the FRG (Helmut Kohl) had right-wing governments, while France had center-left government (François Mitterrand).