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.
April 25, 2026
Starmer and Trump deserve one another. Neither has any merit. Both lied to their electorates.
April 25, 2026
No wonder President Trump is now angry with the UK, giving the King a very difficult job when he goes on a state visit.
I don’t think the President is angry with the U.K. collectively just the toolmakers misfit tool called Starmer he made in a darkened shed at the Bottom of his garden, and the President isn’t on is own here because we are too
April 25, 2026
You say that the US ‘was not as helpful as they could have been over the Falklands.’ Perhaps this was because your party torpedoed the peace plan of US Secretary of State Al Haig.
April 25, 2026
When NATO was set up, its region was carefully restricted, because the US didn’t want to be dragged into colonial disputes. Very sensible I would say. Conversely, the UK should not feel obliged to indulge the US in Middle East action.
April 25, 2026
The truth is that we founded the USA, our blood runs in their veins and that ‘special relationship’ can’t be broken by any politician. The USA is our successor state. Trump sees the U.K. as the homeland of his own mother. He is attached and therefore disappointed as are all sentient British people, indeed many are so disappointed that they are on the streets demanding control of our countries.
The idiocy of this British Government and indeed political class is unprecedented. It’s no wonder that we have ALL lost patience with the grift, lies and in my view crimes (knowingly concocting ‘evidence’ gleaned from the enemy against our soldiers) perpetrated by these despicable people.
The King has abandoned traditional British values, let’s hope Trump displays patience I could not drum up – Prince Philip warned us of the inadequacy of his son.
There would be something fundamentally wrong with any US President who did not draw attention to our burgeoning violent crime, unprecedented arrests for opinions expressed online – which is the modern ‘pub’, and diabolical state of our defence force, not to mention the political alignment of our politicians with ideology that JR is accusing the USA of being late opposing in the 1940s.
The U.K. has changed sides, we are now aligned with the Axis Powers who are about to be defeated again.
That is the real problem.
April 25, 2026
The UK/US relationship is founded at the “doer” level, of people who can actually do things, have delivered complex projects, and worked together when things were tough. The relationship does not depend on the ruling classes who are pretty much an irelevance.
April 25, 2026
Clearly this is public theatre of political dogma. The relationship between diplomacy and Keir Starmer is evident to all, there is none. For him to have actively removed a career diplomat from Washington and promote one of the most high profile high risk politicians of the 21st century to the job remains the most bizarre decision ever taken by a sitting PM.
Starmer’s emphatic statement to the House saying he would not have approved Mandelson had his permanent secretary told him, his close friend Peter had failed vetting scrutiny, is pathetic. That statement from a PM who was promoting the known questionable Mandelson for diplomatic office is as disingenuous as it gets.
Despite the background sleaze obfuscation and manipulation of the system Starmer persists and still remains in post?
We are now informed, he intends to bring forth legislation in the next parliamentary session to proscribe the IRGC. That announcement made one week before key elections nation wide comes, after he blocked the demand from all sides to ban that terrorist organisation over the years.
Why it will require extended parliamentary involvement including being part of the Kings speech in two week’s time to do something so obviously essential, to safeguard the Jewish community here in the UK, I do not know?
How much longer can this process fixated man remain PM? Has he no sense of timing, no sense of the mood of the nation?
April 25, 2026
Next, we need to investigate and remove Hermer, one of the most treacherous men to have ever been given a cabinet position.
April 25, 2026
I am sure most people would agree with you Christine. Starmer and Hermer, they are like the chuckle brothers without the laughs.
April 25, 2026
The place so many British people desire to go for holiday is America. It is a vast country with many things worth seeing and doing – They speak our language which makes everyone comfortable.
While our PM speaks only EU we don’t have a chance of bettering the relationship. His obtuse way of enforcing his Socialist ideology and his support of a UN desiring to be the world government make him a politician out of step. Is it any wonder that Trump has been attacking his irrational behaviour.
Until we get a government with basic common sense, focused on the UK rather than making efforts to give our stuff away to anyone that asks, Trump will get angrier, an effective barrier will exist between the USA and the UK.
For our sanity, defence and future, Starmer must be forced to fall on his sword.
April 25, 2026
UK and US are family. So are Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Families fall out and even hate one another but they remain families. Any special relationship beyond that is merely political and will wax and wane with politics.
April 25, 2026
Two-Tier made a transparently bad pretence that he wanted to build a close relationship with Trump’s America, whilst at the same time was kow-towing to China and cosying up to the EU.
I very much doubt that Trump was fooled for one minute by Two-Tier. Watch what he did:
1. Done everything he could to scupper Trump’s Ukraine War negotiations / ceasefire
2. Plotted to give away the Chagos Islands to an ally of China, lied to Trump about the justification, possibly destroying the longer-term usefulness of Diego Garcia
3. Recognised Palestine, a Hamas-run terrorist state, whilst Trump was trying to broker a peace deal
4. Sent Mandelson, now known to ( have links with. ed) various individuals and hostile States, as Ambassador
5. Has steadily worked to re-attach the UK to the EU (always backing the EU, not the USA)
6. Waved through the Chinese Super Spy Embassy
7. Ministers (and Jonathan Powell) continually visiting China
8. Refused use of British bases; has done NOTHING meaningful to support the USA during the Iran War
9. Maintaining the Net Zero lunacy; refusing to exploit the North Sea which would help during the Iran War
10. Continuing the war on Free Speech in the UK and supporting the EU’s censorship policy, including attacking American companies
All Two-Tier has got from the UK is a second State Visit with Charles Windsor (who doesn’t just play to the left-wing gallery at home – he is an enthusiastic participant) and now a return visit is planned.
As for The Falklands, how is the Government supposed to demonstrate that we have the air and naval power, let alone the resolve, to defend the islands when we patently don’t?
April 25, 2026
The UK should maintain a cordial relationship with the USA, Unfortunately, the UK has a twerp trying to act like a PM.
However, the Falkland Islands belong to the UK and all but three of its citizens agreed. The US may have a point of view about ownership, but so might Tanzania or Monaco. So what?
April 25, 2026
We do not have the capability to defend ourself let alone foreign dependancies.
We should encourage them to accept a transfer to a USA administration before they are appropriated by others.
I am sure the inhabitants would prefer that, to the risk having to change thier language and culture,
April 25, 2026
The USA blackmailed us over Suez which led to us decolonising which the Americans wanted. They didn’t like us controlling vast amounts of resources.
The so called Special Relationship has always been very much in America’s favour. Take the one sided extradition treaty which they refused to ratify but we went ahead with it anyway.
We have a common language and shared ambitions but these are diverging because we continue to import the third world and Starmer needs their votes.
Trump has the measure of the weasel of a PM and his handlers Hermer and I’m afraid KC3 is just an extension of 2TK so don’t expect any improvement in relations.
April 25, 2026
President Trumps Policies, Actions and Statements are so erratic that there is no possibility of the UK continuing to support the US in either foreign policy or defence. Is this a feature of this single president or does it reflect a long term shift in US politics that we will be unable to track, much less support? The Kings visit to Washington may at best produce a short term relief through flattery. We need to recast our political and military allegiances to align with the world as it now is, not, as it was until last year. This is not a matter for the UK budget in 2030 it is a matter for the budget this year; We need some military men in the cabinet. The Can must not be kicked down the road again.,
April 25, 2026
So what you’re saying in a nutshell, is Starmer is clueless.
April 25, 2026
It seems Starmer is on the way out (once they’ve figured out how to open the door). Who/What comes next may be far worse.
April 25, 2026
Well, “thuggish autocratic regimes” include the US (by far the biggest and most murderous one globally – noboby has killed mote foreigners since WW2). As so many point out on the comments here, western “democracy” has come to mean permission to change the name of the autocratic self serving regime at each election. Plus ca change.
It’s time to forget our “glorious past”. The Empire.WW2. Churchill. The special relationship. Projecting military power. Imposing our way of life on others. All that is gone. Our moral superiority is no longer warranted. We disdainfully call other nations “proxies” yet that is our relationship to the US and EU. We name call governments we don’t like as “regimes”, but know we have our very own “regime”. We call them murderous, yet we participate in killing more people than they do.
Let’s end the play acting. We should seek to trade with other nations, protect our homeland ourselves, and focus on our people’s needs. Step back from a world stage where our regime creates trouble in order to appear relevant, pathetically trying to please Uncle Sam and Auntie Ursula.
April 25, 2026
If you need a better relationship for trade defence etc then you’re going to have to wait until the next president – what we have in the WH now is unpredictable and mad / bad and in otherwords evil – and it is a shame to ask the King to go over there at this time especially given his health concerns – if anyone thinks that a visit like this will make the difference well then sorry – it’s something experience has told us from a long time ago you can’t mix it with off the rails insanity and hope to come up with any kind of result – better to steer clear and wait for better days.
April 25, 2026
And all because our Human Rights Lawyer PM mindlessly obeys the dictates of foreign courts rather than putting his own country and its citizens, FIRST!!
In 2026, the only Laws he should follow are BRITISH Laws, for he’s declaring OUR country subservient to foreigners. Are there any other major powers that rigidly conform to the wishes of the international faceless ones? We seem to be the only ones right now.
April 25, 2026
We don’t have the naval or air power to defend the Falklands. But that is not really relevant, all Argentina/USA need to do is arrange a UN/ICJ judgement against UK and then Lord Hermer would block any military action and Starmer would pay Argentina a few billion in reparations along with the Falklands.
April 25, 2026
The UK & the USA also had a common view of Democracy and Law. The UK Parliament threw that away with its integration with the alien systems used by the EU.
Its no longer the people that lend the State its Powers, its the State that dictates the meaning of democracy and the law.
The UK People have been trying to find away back to the meaning of democracy and the law, the UK Parliament, the UK State has and keeps fighting that notion. The notion that a country belongs to the people and not the rulers of the Politburo