Biden-Johnson: the not-so-special relationship

“A hundred and twenty days. Give me a break. Need time.” President Biden’s genially exasperated final public utterance at the G7 Summit in Cornwall played down the ambition of his first foreign trip.

Before he hopped onto Airforce One, Joe Biden and his team carefully calculated his itinerary. It is absurdly foolish to still hold to Harold Macmillan’s Greeks and Romans delusion that the Americans are unsubtle diplomats.

So, phew, the Brits got the first touchdown that should keep them quiet, and any hint of jealousy-provoking special favouritism was diluted by Boris Johnson’s good fortune of happening to host the G7 this year. Next, Brussels, the de facto capital city of both the EU and NATO, to even-handedly celebrate the alliances. Then, finally, neutral Geneva, the traditional venue for chilly meetings with leaders from Moscow.

Thatcher-Reagan, Blair-Clinton, Blair-George W. Bush, Donald Trump grasping Theresa May’s hand: Special Relationship Watch, as reflected in the relationship between the President and Prime Minister, is compulsive viewing on this less potent side of the Atlantic.

So what of Biden-Johnson? The President’s compliments were perfunctory, thanking the Prime Minister for “the incredible hospitality and welcome he provided for us all”, and well, that was it. Sometimes the wisdom and leadership of the meeting’s host and chairperson supplies the theme of guests’ farewell remarks. 

None of the six visitors chose that option this time. Instead, Biden moved on in his next sentence to thank Yael Lempert “for filling in for the Ambassador” and “keeping this US-UK Partnership going and moving smoothly as it is now”. 

Just days before, as revealed by The Times, Ms Lempert visited Whitehall on the orders of Washington to issue a rare “demarche” or formal rebuke, warning the UK government against “inflaming” the situation in Northern Ireland with its hostility to the agreed Brexit protocol. Advice ignored by Johnson and his callow Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who both used their public appearances at Carbis Bay to attack their EU counterparts.

It wasn’t a complete disaster. The government team should be congratulated for organising great pictures and, doubtless, boosting tourism to Cornwall. Carrie and Wilfred Johnson were naturals for their roles. An unprecedented turnout by three generations of the Royal Family brought the splash of stylish decorum which some establishment fixer somewhere may have thought the Prime Minister might lack.

Biden said he’d appoint an ambassador to the UK soon. London is in much the same position as most other European capitals; the incoming Biden administration has been no quicker with its nominations than its predecessors. 

The President didn’t talk about his English antecedents while on these shores, but that was probably a relief to his hosts since this time he didn’t say “I’m Irish” either, as he recently rebuffed a BBC reporter, or talk about his ancestors making the Atlantic crossing on “coffin ships” or tag on a visit to the auld country. 

Nor did he meet the Leader of the Opposition, as US Presidents sometimes do, especially when, as now, their parties are more aligned with each other than with the UK government. It was a deliberate decision by the Americans as US diplomats had discussed the possibility of seeing Starmer with the Labour team. 

There was no invitation to make a state visit, although the President met the Queen, his fellow head of state, twice. Neither he nor Johnson seem that keen on the promise of a ceremonial visit just now.

Theresa May’s premature invitation on behalf of Her Majesty to Donald Trump before she had even set foot in his White House was indisputably the neediest gesture in the lengthy catalogue of Presidential suck-ups by British Prime Ministers. 

Born in New York and a dual American citizen until he gave it up for tax reasons, Johnson is not in awe of the US. In a new profile in the American magazine The Atlantic, fortuitously coinciding with the Biden visit, Johnson says he doesn’t like the term “Special Relationship”, considering it “needy and weak”. Instead, he thinks the UK should be a binding link between nations and not dependent on anyone.

The British public did not endorse his rejection of the Special Relationship in a snap poll for Times Red Box – 49 per cent wanted to cherish it compared to 23 per cent who agreed with the Prime Minister. Other findings were more in line with Johnson’s ambivalence about the self-styled “Leader of the Free World”: 50 per cent thought that the US has too much influence in the UK while 36 per cent think that Biden favours the EU over 24 per cent for the British.

This century US-UK ties have frayed. After the 9/11 attacks on America in 2001, Tony Blair was determined to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with George W. Bush and pay a blood price with troops. The invasion of Iraq has always been controversial here and in the rest of Europe. However, it has never been an issue of burning regret to the American public.

There were significant operational failings by the UK as well. The British Armed Forces – dismissed by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as “workarounds” – failed in their chosen military missions in post-invasion Iraq and Afghanistan and had to be bailed out by America. British Prime Ministerial visits to the conflict zones were only made possible by borrowing American helicopters.

In 2011, at the behest of the UK and France, the US reluctantly provided the bulk of the airpower for military intervention in Libya or the “shitshow”, as President Obama later called it, blaming David Cameron for losing interest in the operation.

Cameron’s similar over-confidence led to his defeat in the House of Commons in August 2013 over the proposed use of force to punish Assad’s use of chemical weapons, resulting in the cancellation of Obama’s plans to strike.

Future issues between the US and UK are more likely to engender competition than fraternal collaboration. By definition, any trade “deal” will be a competition between national interests. 

Biden has not repeated Trump’s unfulfilled promise of an early “beautiful deal”. The US and UK may agree on the general principle of increased business taxes to pay for the pandemic. Still, they differ fundamentally on how much the American FANG (Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Google) should pay and to which governments.

On climate change, the President speaks of “American leadership” and has appointed a grand statesman, John Kerry, to spearhead US efforts. But, even if there is a breakthrough at COP26 in November, it remains to be seen how much of the credit the US will allow the British hosts to claim.

Donald Trump nicknamed Boris Johnson “Britain Trump” and dubbed himself “Mr Brexit”. Conversely, Biden has always viewed Brexit as a grave error that weakens this country’s power and influence. Sitting next to President Macron in Cornwall, he volunteered, “I for one think that the European Union is an incredibly strong and vibrant entity”. @EmmanuelMacron soon retweeted this photo opportunity. Biden greeted Johnson’s 2019 General Election victory by describing him as the “physical and emotional clone” of Trump and blaming Labour for moving too far to the left.

Theirs will not be a special personal relationship, nor, unless circumstances change, are their two governments likely to be especially close.

And yet, the UK is more than its leadership. Johnson’s bombast may be offended by the term, but senior American officials always make a point of talking about “the special relationship” – that term disliked by British diplomats, coined by then Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1941.

They are pretty sure “special relationship” is what we really want to hear. Joe Biden tweeted those words out as soon as he landed at RAF Mildenhall.

On his G7 preparatory visit to London, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken used them freely, declaring, “from Washington’s perspective the UK is our most vital partner”, explaining “we’re connected by ties of friendship, family, history, shared values and shared sacrifice.”

British Foreign Secretary Raab responded, nodding, “I am in violent agreement.”