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Saturday 22 November 2008

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Will the special relationship prevail?

As the US presidential race gathers steam, Westminster is abuzz.  Like the Derby Trials, MPs across the political spectrum are watching their horses anxiously.  Some are seasoned observers.  They know the trainers and even the thoroughbreds themselves.  Others are more recent spectators, but with no less passion.  The outcome of the presidential election matters in Westminster, for the course of US policy certainly, but also for UK domestic politics.

While British politicians feel compelled to discriminate amongst presidential candidates during the campaign, Embassy officials do the exact opposite.  Their task is to build links to all candidates, regardless of political stripes: ‘it’s like an insurance policy’ said one diplomat, albeit often mistaken for a crystal ball.  ‘What London always wants is a prediction’ bemoaned Sir Christopher Meyer, Ambassador during the contentious 2000 US race, ‘it makes life living hell for the Ambassador’.  This year, the Embassy has fought off similar demands from their political masters to date: ‘We just don’t know who’s going to win’ admitted one diplomat, ‘but we’re not exactly in a minority of one on that.’

With the exception of Huckabee, whose surge took British officials by surprise, the Embassy has entered the primary season boasting strong relationships with all key contenders.  The challenge now is to build on these links, drawing on the ingenuity of Embassy officials.  In 1992, Jonathan Powell, then Political Secretary at the Embassy and later Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff, managed to talk his way onto the Clinton campaign bus during primary season.  He stayed put, in this extraordinary privileged position, throughout the campaign.  As then Ambassador Lord Renwick recalled, ‘there came a point when Clinton had to be reminded that Powell wasn’t one of his staffers.’  In 2000, Political Secretary Matthew Rycroft (now Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina) enjoyed similar success, gaining acceptance within the George W Bush campaign, where he was able to nudge Bush’s aides gently towards the British position on Northern Ireland.  The links forged by Powell and Rycroft endured and proved invaluable when Presidents Clinton and Bush took office.

So no matter whose name is being whispered in the corridors of Westminster today, the ‘special relationship’ will endure beyond the 2008 election.  Somewhere in the heartlands of America there is a man with a British accent on a campaign bus, or a plane, forging a network of links with the next President of the United States.  What the British Prime Minister decides to make of these links come next January is another question entirely.

More articles from: Dan Collings | this section

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