John Warner obituary
The US senator John Warner, who has died aged 94, was for a time best known for his brief marriage to the Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor. Craggy of face and crusty of manner, he was central casting's very image of a conservative Republican senator - dedicated champion of a big navy in the Nixon administration and later a leading advocate of strategic missile defence as chair of the powerful Senate armed services committee.
Warner became the swing vote in the great debate over American withdrawal from Iraq when the Republican party lost control of Congress in 2006. His influence was crucial because he had always seemed an utterly reliable supporter of the military and so, after the 2006 midterm elections, the ability of the Democrats to force President George W Bush to withdraw from Iraq was seen to turn on the decision of this one man.
Continue reading...