Finally, we have a politician who dares to say publicly what most of them are thinking; Bush’s war on terror was a mistake. Speaking in Dubai, David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said that by declaring ‘war on terror’ President Bush had forced extremists to unite against the west. Mr. Miliband continued on to say that the phrase suggested that terrorism had to be tackled by force and said that historically, this was not the best way to tackle the dangers facing the West.

This is among the harshest criticism of President Bush by the British government, but Mr. Miliband should have spoken up before. Bush has just another 5 days to go before Obama takes over the oval office, so Mr. Miliband’s comments aren’t really doing him a lot of damage, or will inspire other politicians to follow suit.

Bush has spent the last couple of weeks trying to justify his presidency, but with an approval rating barely over 25% and already condemned by many commentators and historians as the worst of Americas 43 presidents. Bush must be used to criticism from his own country, but how will he fell about this very public criticism by a government member of his strongest ally?