THERESA DECLARES BREXIT BRITAIN AND TRUMP’S AMERICA CAN LEAD THE WORLD
BREXIT Britain and President Donald Trump’s America can lead the world together, Theresa May will declare today.
The Prime Minister is due to kick off a two-day visit to the US with an optimistic and heartfelt call for a renewal of the “special relationship” between the two nations.
She will use a speech to congressmen and women in Philadelphia to say that the firm transatlantic alliance that won two world wars is vital for “a new age”.
“We have the opportunity to lead, together, again,” Mrs May will tell senior members of Mr Trump’s Republican Party.
And tomorrow the Prime Minister will be the first national leader to have a face-to-face meeting with the new president at the White House.
It is seen as a massive vote of confidence in the special relationship from the new administration.
Mr Trump is to show Mrs May the bust of Winston Churchill that has been returned to the Oval Office on his instructions as a symbol of his regard for Britain.
Speaking at the annual gathering of Republican congressmen and women, the Prime Minister will point out that Britain and the US are facing periods of drastic change following the Brexit vote and the election of President Trump.
“As we rediscover our confidence together – as you renew your nation just as we renew ours – we have the opportunity – indeed the responsibility – to renew the special relationship for this new age.
“We have the opportunity to lead, together, again,” Mrs May will say.
“The United Kingdom is by instinct and history a great, global nation that recognises its responsibilities to the world. And as we end our membership of the European Union – as the British people voted with determination and quiet resolve to do last year – we have the opportunity to reassert our belief in a confident, sovereign and global Britain, ready to build relationships with old friends and new allies alike.”
She will add: “The leadership provided by our two countries through the special relationship has done more than win wars and overcome adversity. It made the modern world. The institutions upon which that world relies were so often conceived or inspired by our two nations working together.
“It is through our actions over many years, working together to defeat evil or to open up the world, that we have been able to fulfil the promise of those who first spoke of the special nature of the relationship between us – the promise of freedom, liberty and the rights of man.”
Mrs May and President Trump are
expected to begin discussions on a new trade deal between Britain and the US following the UK’s departure from the EU.
Downing Street officials believe the pair will establish a “strong and productive working relationship”.
Mr Trump has already spoken of his desire to replicate the warm personal chemistry that his predecessor Ronald Reagan enjoyed with Margaret Thatcher.
The two leaders will also discuss tackling the menace of terror group Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, strengthening security cooperation and the West’s relations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Mrs May will fly to Washington after her speech in Philadelphia. She is expected to visit Arlington Cemetery tomorrow to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In the Commons yesterday, Mrs May said her visit just a week after the presidential inauguration showed how close the links between the two countries are.
“I am pleased that I am able to meet President Trump so early in his administration,” Mrs May said at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons. That is a sign of the strength of the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States of America – a special relationship on which he and I intend to build.”
But she also vowed to speak “frankly” to the US president on areas of disagreement. One such area could be torture after the President yesterday signed an executive order allowing the return of so-called “black sites” for terrorist interrogation.
Critics claim the move could mean a return to the “rendition” of suspects carried out under President George Bush’s “War on Terror”. In answer to a Commons question on the issue, the PM said: “Our position on torture is clear: we do not sanction torture and do not get involved in it.”