Virtue-signal all you want, the UK is the loser from Trump’s London no-show
As a resident of Nine Elms in south London, just around the corner from the new American embassy, for strictly selfish reasons I welcomed the news that Donald Trump would not be coming to open it after all. Having a president in the neighbourhood comes with its fair share of traffic and security hassles.
As an American living in London, however, I was embarrassed: not, for once, because of the behaviour of my president, but for my British hosts.
On the face of it, Trump called off his “working” visit to the UK because of his displeasure at the Obama administration’s decision to sell off the previous, “finest”, embassy in Grosvenor Square to the Qataris for “peanuts” (never mind the fact that this decision was made in the final months of George W Bush’s time in office, not Barack Obama’s). Insofar as Trump has an area of expertise, property is it – and if not for the fact that the old embassy is a nightmare of concrete brutalism, we might concede that he has a reasonable point.
But that, rather uncharacteristically for Trump, was mere diplomatic courtesy. The more likely reason for this abrupt cancellation was the president’s reported annoyance at not being given a full state visit, an honour accorded to nearly all of his recent predecessors and a host of unpalatable dictators.
This is a man who understands and places much stock in optics, who would have adored the pomp and circumstance of staying at Buckingham Palace. Officials on both sides of the pond insist that a state visit is still forthcoming, but that dates have not yet been agreed. What we do know for sure is that the president is unlikely to make the trip for anything less than what the Prime Minister offered last year.
Presumably, it was downgraded over fears of major protests, or domestic backlash – but it is ludicrous to treat a presidential visit as a matter for domestic political gamesmanship. Whatever one might think of Trump as a private citizen, however revolting one might find his brand of politics, the office which he occupies demands an enormous amount of respect. Playing host to the President of the United States is an honour, full stop.
It is a sad indictment of the level of debate in this country that so many (including the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan) claimed some sort of pyrrhic victory on Friday morning in response to Trump’s cancellation – as if they’ve not got more important work to be getting on with.
On one level, whether Trump makes it to the UK for a state visit is of essentially zero consequence to the Special Relationship, a term which carries little diplomatic heft in and of itself. It’s unlikely that the two countries would have agreed any serious policy changes during a three-day grip and grin.
Still, it’s all a bit awkward, especially given that this president would have cared more than most about being greeted with full British fanfare. He was so thrilled with his warm reception from Emmanuel Macron in France last year that he reportedly reconsidered his decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, one of his signature campaign pledges. Given how easily Trump is moved by personal favours or slights, this looks like an unforced error for Whitehall, which prides itself on guiding Britain’s supposed leadership in soft-power diplomacy.
Perhaps more damning is the fact that few in the US will take serious note of this news. Some Americans who are not fans of the president might have cheered when Parliament debated whether he should be allowed entry into the country; but I’d wager that the vast majority didn’t know or didn’t care that MPs actually wasted time on the issue. Who, precisely, was the Speaker, John Bercow, trying to impress when he declared that he wouldn’t allow the leader of his country’s most important ally to address Parliament?
Indifference cuts deeper than vitriol. Last February, The New York Times released a poll showing that, across the political spectrum, Canada is popularly considered to be America’s strongest ally; among Republicans, Australia takes the top spot. There is simply no denying that the Special Relationship is of more importance to the UK than the US; from Nato protection to a future trade deal, the UK has more to gain here.
Virtue-signalling will not lower your food prices post-Brexit or defend you against military aggression, but America will. If the notion of a truly “Global Britain” is to be taken seriously, Her Majesty’s government would do well to avoid annoying those from whom it will soon be demanding favours.
‘Given how easily Trump is moved by personal favours or slights, this looks like an unforced error for Whitehall’