The ties that bind

It seems a fitting end to an ill-fated premiership. As Theresa May prepares to leave No. 10, a major quarrel erupts between her government and its most powerful ally, the United States of America. Leaked diplomatic cables show Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador in Washington, calling President Donald Trump ‘inept’, ‘insecure’ and ‘uniquely dysfunctional’. The funny thing is, the words in his memo are just as applicable to Theresa May’s leadership. Within days, Sir Kim resigns.

But every diplomatic crisis is a political opportunity, as President Donald Trump well understands. He even spelled this out in one of his Twitter rants. ‘The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.’

The message is clear: forget Sir Kim’s indiscretions. Trump wants to reset UK-US relations for the better — or at least to his better advantage. New avenues of transatlantic co-operation are opening up, and Trump is optimistic.

I understand that the Vice President, Mike Pence, is planning a trip to London, perhaps a few weeks before the Brexit deadline on Halloween. That is spooky news for pro-Europeans. By then, the new prime minister (presumably Boris Johnson) and the Trump administration may be ready to consummate a brand-new 21st-century transatlantic alliance. In topsy-turvy Trumpworld, everything is possible.

For weeks now, Boris has been saying that if he is elected, Britain will leave the EU on 31 October — ‘do or die’. Might the United Kingdom leap into America’s arms instead? For those capable of looking beyond Brexit, the potential of a Trump-Boris alliance is arguably Britain’s biggest hope.

It’s an open secret that even before Darroch’s emails and his subsequent resignation, Boris had wanted him gone: Sir Kim has made himself infamous in Washington for telling people in private that Brexit is a disaster.