The party of Churchill and Thatcher comes through; the party of De Gaulle thinks twice

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been wondering what position England’s Conservative Party would take with respect to war with Iraq. On the one hand, ideological considerations suggested that the Tories would back Tony Blair. However, with British public opinion opposing war and Blair’s popularity shrinking accordingly, political considerations seemed to militate in favor of a more cynical stance. England’s own Andrew Sullivan proudly reports that principle has prevailed within the party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. The Tories have not gone wobbly, and nearly all of the opposition to Blair’s policy towards Iraq comes from his own Labour Party.
In France, of course, the situation is less happy. The odious Jacques Chirac heads a nominally conservative party. The primary opposition parties are to Chirac’s left, and are, of course, demanding that Chirac veto the latest resolution before the Security Council. However, the Washington Times reports that key members of Chirac’s party are now warning against a veto. They are urging Chirac to back down from his confrontation with the U.S., which they correctly perceive jeopardize the future of their cherished U.N.