Status Anxiety

9 August 2008

At first, I thought the reason the British Consul General in Los Angeles had agreed to have lunch with me was because he knew who I was.

I told Bob Peirce that I’d encountered a similar level of ignorance during the year I’d spent at Harvard from 1987-88. In my first week I went around asking people whether they thought the close ties between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had reinvigorated the special relationship. Without exception, they had no idea what I was talking about. The phrase ‘the special relationship’ meant nothing to them. Clearly, the notion that Britain occupies a unique place in the hearts of the American people is a complete illusion.

‘I tend to steer clear of that phrase,’ said the Consul General. ‘Ever since Macmillan and Kennedy, it seems to be something whose health is measured by the relationship between Number 10 and the White House. In fact, the relationship between the two countries isn’t contingent on how well our respective leaders get on. The ties run far deeper than that.’

He then launched into a masterly analysis in which he traced the ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence back to their English intellectual forebears. As he warmed to his theme — which is that Britain and America are bound together by their shared history — his eyes began to burn with passion and I realised that he is no mere jobbing diplomat serving out his four-year posting. He is a true believer in the Atlantic alliance.

‘I’ve been coming to this country since I was 17 and my wife is American,’ he said. ‘I absolutely love it here.’

I promised him I would do my bit to draw attention to the huge role that British companies play in the social and economic life of California. However, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that this would be in my capacity as a Spectator columnist rather than as the magazine’s editor-in-chief. Who knows, I may be back in LA next April and an invitation to the residence would be very welcome.

Toby Young is associate editor of The Spectator.