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Simon Marks is joined by former US Ambassador to the UK Philip T. Reeker to react to Ed Miliband's first visit to Washington.
Mr Miliband was invited to the US capital by Mr Rubio after their recent first meeting on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' summit in the Philippines last month.
The pair were due to discuss efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Ukraine war and the situation in Gaza.
Smiling as he shook hands with Mr Rubio at the US state department, Mr Miliband ducked shouted inquiries by reporters about his previous strident views on Mr Trump, and said: "We are looking forward to our meeting."
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0:00
Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, is in Washington
0:02
He's held his first face-to-face meeting at the State Department with Marco Rubio
0:07
They did meet briefly on the fringes of an ASEAN summit in the Philippines last month
0:12
But this meeting today is a very big deal. The conventional wisdom going into it suggested the Foreign Secretary was going to be on the back foot
0:20
Why? Because President Trump made it clear he didn't particularly care for Mr Miliband's selection as Foreign Secretary
0:28
One Trump backer recently described the former Energy Secretary, now Foreign Secretary, as a nut zero extremist, known in Washington for all the wrong reasons
0:41
But I'm not sure I share the conventional wisdom. The UK has successfully navigated these shoals before
0:48
Former Foreign Secretary David Lammy once called Trump a tyrant and a woman-hating neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath
0:56
And he had a warm and productive relationship with Marco Rubio and even went trout fishing at Chevening with Vice President J.D. Vance
1:03
And speaking of J.D. Vance, he once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler
1:08
So I wonder what the dynamic of that meeting was all about and whether Ed Miliband might have been the one on the front foot
1:17
And Marco Rubio should have been the one feeling a little bit sheepish about the meeting
1:22
given the extraordinary damage that Donald Trump's war on Iran is already doing to the UK's economy
1:29
and undoubtedly will continue doing the longer it goes on. Let's find out what Ambassador Philip T. Rieker thinks of all of this
1:38
He's a former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, serving in the first Trump and Biden administrations
1:43
and then ambassador to the UK from 2021 to 2022. He's now a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Centre in Washington, D.C
1:52
and joins us live from Washington tonight here in London, this afternoon there on the other side of the Atlantic
1:59
Ambassador Rika, thanks very much indeed for joining us. I mean, I see that a relatively anodyne readout has been issued
2:07
by the State Department spokesperson saying the two men met. They discussed the importance of Europe taking on a greater role in its own security They reiterated their shared commitment to safe transit in the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring Iran never develops or obtains a nuclear weapon
2:25
I mean, that doesn't tell us very much. What do you think the mood music was like in that room
2:31
And do you agree that Ed Miliband should have viewed himself as being on the front foot in that interaction with the Secretary of State
2:39
Good afternoon to you there. Thank you, Simon, and thanks very much for having me. Always good to be back with LBC
2:45
yes, I think that statement, anodyne, is one word for it. It was probably written before the meeting took place
2:53
might have been written before Mr. Miliband even got on the plane. That's the nature of this work
2:59
Look, I think some of the press stories and the questions shouted out by reporters
3:03
of course, are frankly verging on the silly. It's important to have these meetings
3:08
The U.S. and the U.K. are really the closest of allies, despite difficult times
3:13
We've been through these before. And everybody knows that dealing with the Trump administration is not easy on anyone, particularly a government that has a different political bent
3:23
And certainly that's the Labour government in the UK, different from the Donald Trump government and Ed Miliband, a different character than Marco Rubio
3:34
So to the question of the foreign secretary's comments at some point about President Trump, as you pointed out, look at what J.D. Vance said about President Trump as a candidate and earlier
3:46
Look at what Marco Rubio himself said about him. I don't think there was any discussion about the size of hands or anything else in this meeting
3:55
It looks to me as if they talked about the key issues, one of them being, as you said, the war against Iran, this ongoing military action
4:04
We're now many months into what was supposed to be a short detour, as the president described it, when he launched with the Israelis these attacks
4:13
That's crucial for everybody, for global supply chains, for the economy, energy supplies and general stability overall
4:20
There's also Ukraine, the bigger picture of what to do about Russia, the Euro and transatlantic
4:29
security, the force posture that is undergoing in the U.S. right now in terms of the U.S
4:35
military presence in Europe The U has a big stake in that as well And frankly there a global agenda So it important that these meetings take place person to person And I suspect that the two men they professionals they diplomats
4:49
they're public officials, they've both been elected to office, parliamentarians. They know how to engage and interact
4:55
So Ed Miliband has put his own statement out, his own readout about the meeting
4:59
And it's starkly different to the anodyne couple of sentences we got from C Street
5:05
He says, of course, the UK and the US are the closest of allies bound by culture, history and interests and our shared commitment as NATO allies
5:13
But then he goes on to say, we discussed the vital importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which is essential to protecting British families and businesses on the cost of living
5:26
This government's number one priority. He was walking through the doors at the State Department today 48 hours after EY, the accounting firm, predicted that inflation in this country is going to reach 6.4% by the end of this year unless the Strait of Hormuz blockade ends and that next year the British economy is going to shrink at exactly the moment that Andy Burnham, the new Prime Minister, is desperate to find a path to growth
5:57
Shouldn't European governments at this point, including our own, be much more forthright
6:02
as Mr Miliband has been in that statement, about saying to the Trump administration
6:07
get this sorted. This is causing massive dislocation to the people who live in your European allied nations
6:18
on the other side of the Atlantic. Well, I think your point is exactly right
6:22
And of course, Mr Miliband is speaking on behalf of his constituents, the British people
6:26
part of the government that is in place to represent their interests
6:31
And those interests are primarily economic. Frankly, I think Mr. Rubio probably wants to pay a little more attention to that himself
6:40
The issues in the United States come down to the economy, inflation, gas prices, petrol
6:46
You know, I filled my tank just this last weekend and not quite $5 a gallon at this point
6:53
But again, very high. This was something the president campaigned on bringing these prices down This is what people need to see now Whether appealing to the interests and needs of allies is something that is going to affect the Trump administration at least
7:08
publicly and in their statements, anodyne or otherwise, that is a question that I think we've
7:14
seen repeatedly. It doesn't matter. But what goes on behind private doors in these meetings is
7:19
important. And I'm sure Mr. Billiband had a chance to pass on those concerns to Secretary Rubio
7:26
and hear his concerns as well. This is costing the United States as well
7:30
It's very destabilizing to the whole world. We've heard repeatedly that this is over or just about to be over
7:37
The strait is open, the strait is closed. The Iranians have agreed there's a deal, there's not a deal
7:42
Every day there seems to be a new narrative. Do you think that Donald Trump and arguably Marco Rubio
7:49
have the maturity and the patience to get a deal done with Iran
7:54
Well, I think they have it. It's a question of whether they do. Now, the challenge here, Simon, is that the Iranians are remarkably good negotiators
8:04
Whether that's in the way that others like to negotiate is beside the point
8:09
They have their approach. And from my experience at the State Department and with those who have been involved with Iran before
8:17
it takes months and months, years even, to understand how the Iranians are approaching something
8:22
They're very good at making a pretty good hand out of very poor cards
8:27
And we've seen them pounded militarily. We've seen all kinds of challenges
8:32
It's a society, 80-some million people, let's remember, that is suffering in many ways
8:38
And yet they have become more determined to play well the cards that they do have
8:44
And that requires expertise. And I have to say, we've lost a lot of the expertise and experience
8:49
And so I think it's an important moment for Secretary Rubio and for the special envoys from President Trump's cabinet to really focus on how they can get out of this and do the best for American interests
9:07
And that will, of course, reflect well for our allies as well. Ambassador Rika, thanks so much for your time this afternoon there in Washington, D.C
9:13
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, then U.S. Ambassador to the U.K.
9:17
now a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C
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