The UK has often fawned too much to keep something called “the special relationship”. In practice what we have experienced with the US over the last century is a close relationship based on a mutually important trade with fair balance between imports and exports, a close military alliance formalised through NATO but also developed by close working on defence and intelligence matters on a global basis, and a common view of many of the world’s great political divides. The UK and the US are usually combined as champions of the democracies, and defenders of small states under threat from thuggish autocratic regimes. The US came late to both European wars as they morphed into world wars and was not as helpful as they could have been over the Falklands. The UK sat out Viet Nam, seeing the difficulties in achieving victory. The UK has assisted the US in its other major Middle Eastern wars.
The Prime Minister thought this relationship was crucial and put a lot of effort in the early days into playing down the unpleasant things leading Labour figures has said about Mr Trump before he was re elected. The outgoing Ambassador did a great job to smooth the UK and then the US transition of governments. No sooner was this done, and an early win was pocketed by getting the UK a better deal on US tariffs than the EU. The PM decided to put Mandelson in as Ambassador. This was as some of us warned a bad idea. He placed a man known to be close to Epstein into the Oval Office when the last thing the President wanted was such associations at his meetings. The PM stupidly plunged on with trying to give away the crucial joint US/UK naval base at Diego Garcia, threatening to break the US/UK Treaty about the base and annoying US defence opinion to give the freehold to an ally of China.
More recently the dreadful handling of the sacking of Mandelson has annoyed US opinion. The refusal of permission to the US to use their own bases on our territories was a big mistake. We did not have to say we would join them in bombing action, but it was wrong to temporarily deny them use of their own facilities and then for the PM to change his mind late in the day. The decision to withdraw our last minesweeper from the Gulf just before the outbreak of hostilities was a bad one, as the UK had been important in offering mine clearing services in the region. It was also pathetic that the UK had just decommissioned its one frigate in Bahrain and could not find a single naval ship to go the Gulf, and only one that was late and in need of repair to assist Cyprus.
No wonder President Trump is now angry with the UK, giving the King a very difficult job when he goes on a state visit. The PM has to respond to or ignore bad comments from the President which make things more difficult. He at times decides to play to the left wing gallery at home who would welcome a more decisive break with Trump’s America. The truth is we need a better relationship in trade, defence and investment which has been made more difficult by bad decisions of the PM and now by the very public criticisms of the PM by the President. The government has to counter the Falklands threat from Washington and Argentina. The government should show it has the air and naval power and resolve to defend the islands.