In December 1941, after the Americans had been plunged into the Second World War by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill travelled the Atlantic to meet with Franklin Roosevelt. As a mark of respect because of the wartime alliance, he was invited to stay in the White House. One morning the President walked into his guest’s suite to see Churchill emerge freshly scrubbed, glowing and (apart from his cigar) completely naked from his bath. Embarrassed, Roosevelt started to leave the room, but Churchill called him back. Winston said: “The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to conceal from the President of the United States.”
So much for the special relationship. British prime ministers talk about it a lot, presidents not so much. It is hardly surprising that Rishi Sunak is not a household name in the US. When Joe Biden refers to you as “Rashee Sanook” and then promotes you to “Mr President”, you can’t really expect anyone else to contradict him. And even though the Biden administration’s agenda for the “health of democracies” (free elections, human rights etc) was always going to find a more natural partner in Labour, it’s still surprising that Keir Starmer is gaining quite so much traction in the US. I was on the West Coast last week and instead of people’s eyes glazing over whenever I mentioned what’s currently happening in Westminster there seemed to be considerable interest in the current Labour leader. “Starmer, right? Yeah, it’s his to lose, right?” Well, possibly, even though we’re probably a year away from an election, there is no Cool Britannia-style upswing to help matters along, and — optics, here — the cancellation of HS2 has called into question the UK’s ability to deliver big ticket projects for international investors.
