Giuliani basks in four ex-PMs' reflected glow

London: Rudy Giuliani has scored a coup in his White House campaign by meeting Gordon Brown at No 10, conferring with Tony Blair, receiving an award from Baroness Thatcher and wrapping himself in the legacy of Winston Churchill.

The unprecedented feat of staging a show of genuine closeness to four British prime ministers - three of whom evoke degrees of veneration in America - placed the former New York mayor firmly on the global stage and cemented his claim to be a world leader.

Linking the 9/11 attacks on America to the July 7 attacks in London - when Giuliani happened to be in the British capital - and the Blitz, he hailed the transatlantic relationship as a force of history.

"It's now such a strong relationship that it's going to endure whatever we have to endure to overcome terrorism, which we have both suffered from," Giulani said, highlighting personal bonds beginning with Sir Winston and President Franklin Roosevelt and continuing up to Blair and President George W Bush.

He praised the "most resilient people of Britain" who after July 7, he witnessed returning to work as if nothing had happened.

Right attitude

"You've got the right attitude, which is you've got to take it seriously, you've got to do everything you can to stop it but God forbid if it happens you can't let it break your spirit."

Giuliani, who still leads the Republican field for the presidential election next year despite predictions that his liberal social views would be unacceptable to American conservatives, was speaking during a lunchtime event in which he was questioned by Celia Sandys, a granddaughter of Sir Winston. An invited audience of about 80, most of them expatriate Americans who had donated at least £500 (Dh3,700) to the Giuliani campaign, applauded as the took an uncompromising stance against Iran.