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Visits by prime ministers to the American president hold much more significance for us “Brits” than they do for them.
Donald Trump made this clear in the casual manner he announced that he had granted Sir Keir Starmer a precious slot in his busy schedule.
“We have a lot of good things going on,” the president boasted. “But he asked to come and see me and I just accepted his asking.”
Following his phone call with the prime minister, Trump declared “we’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good”. This statement came before Sir Keir publicly disagreed with Trump’s ruling that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “a dictator”.
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<span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-role="caption-text">Trump on Starmer visit</span>
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Provided his invitation isn't withdrawn in a fit of presidential pique, Starmer will proceed with utmost caution upon visiting the Oval Office.
According to sources from Downing Street, they are anxious "not to poke the bear," well aware of the awkward moments previous leaders experienced while attempting to strengthen a special relationship during visits.
Starmer will have a challenging task ahead. Since his re-election, Trump has indicated he has less interest than ever in traditional alliances.
Newly inaugurated presidents generally send friendly greetings to their neighboring territories. Instead, Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico and discussed US territorial expansions to both the north and south.
Historically, the UK prime minister has often been the first foreign leader welcomed by a new US president. Trump hosted Theresa May just a week after taking office for the first time and surprised her by holding her hand as they descended some steps.
This year, Starmer has already been preceded by the leaders of Israel, Japan, Jordan, and Indonesia, and will be crossing the Atlantic to pay his respects in the same week as France's President Macron.</p> <div class="sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image">
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<img class="sdc-article-image__item" loading="lazy" intrinsicsize="768x432" src="https://e3.365dm.com/25/02/768x432/skynews-donald-trump-theresa-may_6834671.jpg?20250220145142" srcset="https://e3.365dm.com/25/02/384x216/skynews-donald-trump-theresa-may_6834671.jpg?20250220145142 380w, https://e3.365dm.com/25/02/768x432/skynews-donald-trump-theresa-may_6834671.jpg?20250220145142 760w, https://e3.365dm.com/25/02/1600x900/skynews-donald-trump-theresa-may_6834671.jpg?20250220145142 1024w, https://e3.365dm.com/25/02/2048x1152/skynews-donald-trump-theresa-may_6834671.jpg?20250220145142 2048w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw" alt="Donald Trump holds then British Prime Minister Theresa May's hand as they walk along the colonnades of the White House in Washington in January 2017. Pic: AP"/>
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<span class="u-hide-visually">Image:</span>
<span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text">Donald Trump holds Theresa May's hand as they walk along the colonnades of the White House in Washington in January 2017. Pic: AP</span>
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Thatcher and Reagan’s political romance
At the best of times, British officials are prone to exaggerate the closeness of the mutual interests between the two countries.
Harold Macmillan thought he could teach the young John Kennedy a thing or two, as the Greek to JFK’s Roman, but ended up being dictated to by Kennedy on the nature of the UK’s “independent” nuclear deterrent.
One of Harold Wilson’s most significant achievements was refusing to send British troops to fight alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War.
The most celebrated PM/POTUS political romance was between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Indeed, when the Falklands conflict broke out in the spring of 1982, I was in the White House briefing room to hear then US secretary of state Al Haig joke with innuendo about the closeness of their relationship.
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher dancing at the White House in 1988. Pic: Reuters
It blossomed after Thatcher won Reagan over to give the UK expedition staunch support, in defiance of the advice from some of his officials.
Even so, Thatcher was unnerved by Reagan’s apparent willingness to consider mutual nuclear disarmament in discussion with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986.
She flew hastily to Washington DC following the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik – “to give Reagan a bollocking” – at least according to the Daily Express reporter in her travelling party.
In 1990 she reportedly told George HW Bush “now George, this is not time to go wobbly” during the flurry of meetings and phone calls which followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
Clinton owing Blair and Bush’s love bombing
John Major got off to a bad start with Bill Clinton after Conservative sources tried to help the Republican campaign dig up dirt on Clinton’s time at Oxford. Soon after the US election in 1992, Major flew to the US in the hope of being invited to a face-to-face meeting with the then president-elect. After several days all he got was a phone call from Little Rock, Arkansas.
In spite of their ideological closeness, Tony Blair later said he found it more difficult to deal with the Third Way Democrat Bill Clinton than he did with the “straightforward” Republican George W Bush.
Clinton nonetheless was a key player in bringing about the Belfast agreement. Blair’s greatest success was persuading the president to commit US forces to peacekeeping in the Balkans but he also did Clinton significant personal service.
Blair went on a scheduled visit to the White House at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, just days after the president had made his statement “I did not have sex with that woman”.
At their joint news conference afterwards, Blair allowed all the questions to be deflected to him and expressed his admiration for the president. As they walked away from the East Wing, Clinton put his arm around the prime minister and appeared to say “I owe you one”.
Source: https://news.sky.com/story/starmers-challenge-is-to-see-if-usual-rules-of-special-relationship-still-apply-under-trump-after-years-of-love-bombing-13313250
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