For those of us apprehensive about the loss of Tony Blair at Ten Downing Street, we’ve this from the AP, dateline: Camp David:

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told President Bush Monday that he shares the U.S. view that there are “duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep” in Iraq.

“Our aim, like the United States is, step-by-step to move control to the Iraqi authorities,” Brown said, joining Bush at a news conference at the president’s Maryland mountaintop ranch.

Brown said that decisions about troops would only be made “on the military advice of our commanders on the ground,” echoing language often heard from Bush.

It is called sanity, and I am proud that our friends across the Atlantic still possess it.