Nile Gardiner:

During his visit to the UK, the US President will have loud advice for Theresa May to stand up to Brussels

Gloom has engulfed the British view of Brexit. Remainers were always dubious about the prospects for glory, and have spent the last two years predicting doom. Yet now Brexiteers, too, are despondent, fearful of Theresa May’s Chequers memorandum and feeling that their dream is slipping from their grasp. Ministers are resigning, the Tory grassroots are in uproar and EU leaders are theatrically tutting and shaking their heads. It almost seems as if there are no true believers left.

Except, perhaps, for President Donald Trump. His attitude to Brexit is completely different, and he is just the man to deliver some much-needed encouragement and good cheer. He will also have loud and clear advice for Theresa May: respect and deliver the will of the British people, stand up to the Eurocrats in Brussels and negotiate with the EU with strength, courage and conviction – or else suffer the kind of national decline he is so vocal about preventing in America.

Trump, after all, believes that Brexit is in his own DNA. The UK’S against-all-odds referendum victory gave him powerful momentum as he campaigned to defeat Washington’s ruling elites. He has little time for the grandiose dreams and deep-rooted anti-americanism of the European Commission in Brussels, and has skirmished with EU leaders since taking office. This stance reflects the views of millions of American conservatives, who see Brexit as a tremendous inspiration, a historic development that will be good for the USA as well as for Britain. And, as the son of a Scottish mother, he has a genuine affection for the country.

There is also immense good will from Congress, reflected in the fact that there are at least five pieces of legislation urging a US-UK trade deal. A top priority for the White House this week will be laying further groundwork for such a deal, as well as a post-brexit agenda for US-UK cooperation. At the Davos summit in January, Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, encouragingly declared that Britain would “go to the front of the line” for a trade deal – a striking contrast with Obama’s threat during the referendum campaign to put Britain at the “back of the queue”.

For all that the British worry about our standing in the White House, we need to remember that trust remains high. It dwarfs that placed in any other European ally. British ministers visiting Washington enjoy a level of engagement unrivalled among foreign powers, partly because of the strength of Britain’s security capability and partly because Trump has an instinctive distrust of the euro-federalism that dominates France and Germany. Indeed, he has a demonstrated preference for dealing with national capitals rather than with Brussels – and the special relationship remains America’s most important bilateral alliance of all.

So despite the large public protests in London, the sneers of its mayor and the vocal opposition of many MPS, this trip will strengthen the bonds between the USA and the UK. Trump will meet the Queen and hold talks with the PM, pending the arrangement of a proper state visit in future. Yet he will also tell it like he sees it where Brexit is concerned. While it remains to be seen exactly what he thinks of Theresa May’s Chequers compromise, he has already expressed his concern over the exit of Boris Johnson, a well-liked and respected figure in Washington. The president wants Brexit to restore British selfdetermination. If he views our Brexit deal as undermining Britain’s ability to operate as a fully sovereign ally for the United States, he will likely say so in the starkest possible terms.

We should not begrudge him this; instead we should take it as muchneeded encouragement to throw off the shackles of the EU. For, unlike his predecessor in the Oval Office, Donald Trump strongly believes in the special relationship, fervently backs Brexit, is deeply sceptical of the European project and truly wants to work with Britain as much as possible. Britain will greatly benefit from the can-do spirit and unstinting enthusiasm for Brexit that has become a hallmark of Trump’s foreign policy, and should embrace the tremendous support that the United States is offering.

Nile Gardiner is director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation