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No one who has studied the history of Britain’s so-called special relationship with America will be surprised that the Obama administration is nervous about the idea that we might leave the European Union. Yet it was outrageous for a White House official to warn this week that our membership of the EU was ‘in the American interest’ and that pulling out would be a mistake. State Department official Philip Gordon may hold a post that is the equivalent to a junior under-secretary in our Foreign Office but he is the authentic voice of the Obama administration.