The end of the AngloAmerican order?

There has always been a shared conceit at the heart of the special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom that global leadership is best expressed and exerted in English. More boastful than the Brits, successive US presidents have trumpeted the notion of American exceptionalism.

Prime ministers, in a more understated manner, have also come to believe in British exceptionalism, the idea that Westminster is the mother parliament, and that the UK has a governing model and liberal values that set the global standard for others to follow, not least its former colonies. In the post-war Anglo-American order those ideas came together.

The liberalised free trade system that flourished after the war is often called the Anglo- Saxon model. The post-world global architecture, diplomatic, mercantile and financial, was largely an English- speaking construct. In recent weeks, however, the Anglo-American order has looked increasingly weak and wobbly. The unexpectedly messy result of the British election makes it look still more fragile, like a historic edifice left tottering in the wake of a major quake. There is uncertainty in Westminster, and something nearing chaos in Washington because of Russian probe at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Neither Britain nor America can boast strong and stable governments. Neither have the look of global exemplars.

In the six weeks since Theresa May called her snap election, the global tectonic plates have shifted fast, leaving Britain and America increasingly adrift. The British PM, by failing to win an election she didn't have to call, has weakened her bargaining position still further. In recent weeks it is not only the UK's relations with the EU that have become more strained. Its cherished trans-Atlantic alliance has also been subject to some unforeseen stress tests. The special relationship has always been an asymmetrical relationship but now it seems even more lop- sided. Voids in global leadership are immediately filled, and we've seen that happen at warp speed over the past few weeks.

These English- speaking nations no longer speak with such a clarion voice, and the rest of the world no longer takes such heed. A new world order seems to be emerging that is being articulated in other tongues.