The chance to send Farage to Washington is a gift for Britain
Nigel Farage should be Britain’s ambassador to the United States, or some job like it. I can hear the sound of jaws dropping. “Really, Tim? Nigel Farage?” It was, until recently, an unthinkable idea. But so was Brexit and so was President Donald J Trump. Times have changed.
Our sense of possibilities needs to adjust, too. We have to ask ourselves what we want in this brave new world of conservative populism. The bromance between Farage and Trump offers opportunities.
The special relationship between the US and the UK is a myth. The British imagine that it is permanent, institutional – but hardly any American has ever heard of it. In a recent press conference, Barack Obama identified Germany as his most productive ally, although he has been to war alongside the British in Libya and Syria.
The only Americans who are genuinely enthusiastic about Britain are those the British tend to think least of: Right-wing Republicans. In their imaginations, Britain plays ancient Greece to America’s Rome. We provide ideas and history, the US projects those values with its military muscle. In 2010, Sarah Palin said that her political hero, besides Ronald Reagan, was Britain’s Margaret Thatcher.
Now there was a special relationship. But, like Bush and Blair, it was circumstantial rather than constitutional. The Atlantic alliance works best when there is personal and philosophical chemistry between its leaders. The Conservative Government does not have that with Trump.
He behaved obnoxiously – even immorally – during the election; they assumed he was going to lose, so they felt free to denounce him. When he won, they were suddenly alone.
Some point of connection between London and Washington has to be found. The most obvious is Brexit. Trump loves it, the Government is responsible for making it happen. And if you scrape away the shell of prejudice around Trump’s election campaign, you find beneath a softbellied creature who is vain, desperate for friends and open to ideas.
Trump is smarter on foreign policy than you think. He asks: “Why pick a fight with Russia when we have a common enemy in the Middle East? Why suck up to China when it’s stealing all our jobs? And why not demand that Nato members pay their fair share towards common defence?” Britain has broken its back trying to meet the 2 per cent spending commitment; other countries haven’t bothered.
Behind all of this is a businessman’s mindset that shies away from expensive conflicts and puts the economic needs of the West first. Not so much nationalism as pragmatic self-interest – the attitude that inspired Brexit.
Brexit is Britain’s most exportable idea. It’s hugely popular with the Republican leadership, which imagines the British as a race of Churchills defying socialist Europe. If you turn on the television in the US, it’s Farage’s face you see representing us on CNN or Fox. Millions of Americans probably think he is prime minister. We can despair of this all we want, but it is the new paradigm in which we live. Send Farage to Washington, and you instantly boost Britain’s diplomatic capital.
You also get rid of Farage. Left to his own devices, he is a problem for the Government – a constant critic of its slow, deliberate approach to Brexit. Despite retiring as Ukip leader, he seems permanently to be on chat shows, stirring the pot. He must feel, bitterly, like a prophet without honour in his own country. He has helped to win a referendum and bring down a prime minister, and yet there have been no rewards. The Government could put him in the Lords, in recognition of the 3.8 million votes Ukip won in 2015. Or it could co-opt him, use him. Bring Farage into the establishment that he professes to hate, make him compromise with the realities of office. Send him to Washington with instructions to keep Trump focused on a trade deal that could transform both our economies.
Because we have a historic opportunity here, one I can hardly believe is happening. At the same time as we moved away from the EU intellectually, America moved closer towards us. America, the last superpower, the only country with a serious army that can fight anywhere, and with a population of consumers who are still the engine of the global economy. Its president wants to get to know us and it turns out we have a friend in common: Nigel Farage.