Donald’s doormat
The US has a long history of wiping its feet all over us. So why are we still desperate to be...
WHY does the Prime Minister think it does her good to be seen with that global embarrassment, Donald Trump? Why do politicians and media commentators in Britain prattle about how the ‘Special Relationship’ between Britain and the USA is still flourishing?
This is dangerous fantasy. The United States is not, and never has been, our special friend. Sometimes it has been our ally. Sometimes it has been very close to being our enemy, especially in Ireland (almost all the time) and during the Suez Crisis in 1956, when the US Navy’s chiefs discussed opening fire on the Royal Navy.
I don’t complain about this. The USA does what we should do. It looks after itself first. It is a separate country with different interests from ours. It is not a Big Britain. We owe them a lot of money. We defaulted on our enormous First World War debts to the US (£866million at the time, worth about £225 billion at today’s values) back in 1934. Contrary to popular belief, we have never paid this back. We only very recently paid our Second World War debts to America.
For the best explanation of the relations between the two countries, read what President Woodrow Wilson said at a banquet at Buckingham Palace on December 27, 1918, soon after our joint victory over Germany six weeks before.
‘You must not speak of us who come over here as cousins, still less as brothers; we are neither. Neither must you think of us as AngloSaxons, for that term can no longer be rightly applied to the people of the US. Nor must too much importance in this connection be attached to the fact that English is our common language… no, there are only two things which can establish and maintain closer relations between your country and mine: they are community of ideals and interests.’
I do wish that everyone in British politics, journalism and diplomacy would read and remember these words. Wilson was a fairly nasty piece of work who made a terrible mess of Europe and pretty much caused the Second World War. But he spoke the truth.
And it seems to me that France’s Charles de Gaulle, who was always prickly and unhelpful to the USA, and who was disliked by them in return, did a far better job for his country than our post-war leaders did for ours.
Our endless sucking up to Washington gets us very little worth having. If we told Donald Trump we were in fact not very keen to host a visit by him, he would give us more than if we abased ourselves before him. Doormat diplomacy, such as we now engage in with the USA, will always end with them wiping their feet on us.