Martin welcomes day of hope for America and the world

4.00.00pm GMT Tue 20th Jan 2009

Martin Horwood MP has welcomed the inauguration today of US President Barack Obama.

The Cheltenham MP - whose former researcher Jake Rigg actually went on to contribute to Obama's speechwriting team - said: "45 years ago Martin Luther King dreamt of an American nation in which people would be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin. Today Barack Obama will fulfil an important part of that dream. He isn't taking office today because he is black but because of his character, because he offered a more intelligent, open-minded and liberal vision of America. It is a vision that holds a great deal of hope for the rest of the world. George Bush and his allies divided America and the world into simplistic camps of good guys and bad guys. It is to our eternal shame that the British government collaborated in some of his most reckless adventures like the invasion of Iraq. I hope we can now look forward to a more enlightened, broad-based and peaceful approach to international relations from the United States.'

'But Obama has other lessons for us here. He has inspired and moved Americans, especially young Americans. My own little niece, who lives in New York, was taken into the polling booth by her mother last November so that she could grow up saying that she voted for Barack Obama. Perhaps we should discard some of our corrosive cynicism about politics and work harder to inspire and motivate and move people here. I find young people in Cheltenham's schools and colleges are much less cynical than many older voters and we should encourage their enthusiasm and commitment. Expectations of Obama are perhaps impossibly high but if his example shows young people in this country that they can at least try to change the world, I think that would be a very positive thing.'