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The so-called special relationship between the US and the UK is at a breaking point
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with constant threats of tariffs, tweets and tantrums coming from Donald Trump in the White House
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I'm off to see Simon Marks now. He's LBC's man in Washington
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He's been living here reporting on politics for over 30 years. And I want to know why he thinks the special relationship no longer feels so special
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Well, I think it's changed out of all recognition. I mean, when I got here in 1992, it's important to understand that Washington was a completely different kind of city
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Members of Congress, lawmakers, presidents came to office to get things done, to engage in the art of compromise
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So Republicans and Democrats would gather in smoke-filled rooms on Capitol Hill, back here at the White House
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They would engage across the aisle. They would find ways of bringing about compromise in order to pass laws
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that they both concluded were in the interests of the American people, even if they had to compromise on some of their core beliefs
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to get to the final passage of law. And we've seen just such an extraordinary shift in the nature of politics here
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and that has infected the special relationship, because when you have such tribalism, such polarized divisions
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between the two major political parties here, so that compromise is not possible when you end up in a situation where a president of the United States in the case of Donald Trump comes to power deeply hostile to the concept of alliances particularly
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in Europe, but in some other parts of the world as well, now threatening to withdraw the United
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States potentially from NATO, undermining the alliance that has kept the peace in Europe for
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eight decades, that of course has a profound impact on the so-called and now not so special
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relationship. And the King will be discussing that special relationship in an address to
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Congress in the same place that his mother gave a speech back in 1991, the Queen Elizabeth
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A very different world of course. Do you think this visit is going to have any impact
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on the mentality of this administration? I think it's absolutely vital for the King
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to come here and lay down a marker. We know that President Trump received a private note from the king
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criticising some of the hostile comments that he's made recently about the contribution of the British military in conflicts
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We know that President Trump, and we heard it here this morning, has an abiding respect for the king
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and also, of course, for his late mother, the Queen. So to have the king go to Congress, and the president won't be there
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but, of course, members, prominent figures from both parties as it absolutely will be, including Vice President J.D. Vance
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in his capacity as President of the Senate, and to have them hear a stated commitment to the importance of the transatlantic alliance the notion that the special relationship is not thought of in European terms as being year to year but is thought in European terms
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as being decade to decade, an ongoing commitment to the special relationship
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I think to lay that marker down is important, first of all because it sends a message to
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President Trump, but secondly it also sends a message to the people, J.D. Vance, Marco
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Rubio vying potentially to succeed President Trump and to Democrats who are hoping that come next January, after the midterm elections here, they might be in charge of both houses of Congress were the voters to deliver them that opportunity
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So if you are truly thinking about this relationship in terms of decades
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putting a marker down in March of 2026 might become extremely useful in January of 2027
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even if it doesn't change the thinking of the guy who's back down there
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But even if it does change the thinking of the president, even if it does warm relations
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the question is then how long does it last? Is it going to be a permanent shift or is it going to last until the end of the week or until the end of the month
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In other words, is what we're seeing now a permanent rupture? Well, the special relationship, we've heard today, of course, this leaked audio of Sir Christian Turner
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the new UK ambassador to the United States, saying he doesn't even like using the phrase
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He thinks it's nostalgic. He thinks it has lots of baggage with it
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I mean there a problem in those remarks because that clearly not the view as publicly expressed by Sikir Starmer who says you can constantly see in various aspects of the bilateral relationship
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as he puts it, the special relationship in action. But the special relationship is always only ever
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as good as the relationship between the US President of the day and the UK Prime Minister
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of the day. We have seen people who you didn't think were going to be political soulmates. I
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I remember when Tony Blair came to power in the UK and George W. Bush came to power here in Washington
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We all thought, well, that's it. They're never going to see eye to eye about anything
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And then, amazingly, they found common cause in the Gulf War, in the war against Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein
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We saw Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, of course, finding common cause, although there were tensions in their relationship
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even though they were absolutely ideologically and philosophically soulmates. So the pattern of the special relationship changes
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The difficulty with where we find ourselves now is that because of the things Donald Trump has done
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and the very personal nature of the attacks... Against Kirsten. ..that he's launched on the Prime Minister
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and also, frankly, more broadly on the British people through various comments that he's made
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really, I think, has sent Europe onto its back feet. They're all saying to themselves, as our government is
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we need actually to be rethinking this strategic dependence that we have on the United States
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whether that all snaps back once he leaves that White House, I think is still very much in doubt
