As the Prime Minister prepares to fly to Washington, we can expect to hear the usual uninformed negativity from the anti-American Left.
They will tell us that the closeness between our two nations is wishful thinking, that the special relationship between us is a figment of the imagination of a Britain in decline.
In fact, there is probably more rubbish written about “the special relationship” than most other political topics.
When the phrase was first used by Winston Churchill in his famous speech in Fulton, Missouri in March 1946 (remembered for his use of the term “Iron Curtain” for the first time), he did so as a wartime leader.
He understood that the real strength of our bond lay in our defence and security cooperation, protecting our common values and vision for a free world.
That is still the enduring basis of the special relationship today, a sharing of intelligence and military capability that is not equalled by any two other nations in the world.
Our defence and security collaboration extends across the full spectrum of activities, including operations, intelligence, research and flagship capability programs. Our troops fight together.
They combat terrorism, maintain freedom of navigation on the high seas, undertake anti-narcotic missions worldwide and fight against piracy off the Horn of Africa.
We are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and both nuclear powers.
The US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement of 1958 allows us to exchange nuclear materials, technology and information.
While the US has agreements on nuclear cooperation with other countries, including France, the UK agreement is the most comprehensive. Since 2021 the US Marine Corps F-35 fighter jets have travelled on Britain’s new Queen Elizabeth class carriers, including through the South China Sea.
At a conference in the US last year, I was speaking about how, as a former defence secretary deeply committed to the carrier strike programme, I was hugely proud of this collaboration.
Afterwards, I was approached by the proud mother of one of the US pilots on board and her husband, who said how touched they were by the specific mention of the South China sea transit. Her husband was none other than former Vice President Mike Pence.
Our links run deep. More recently, the US approved the sale of up to 768 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System-IIs (APKWS-II) at a cost of 31.2million dollars, making our forces more inter-operable with the US.
The State Department says the sale will “support the foreign policy goals and security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe”.
So much for those predicting the end of the special relationship. But it is not just in the realm of security that we are close.
The total trade in goods and services between the UK and US was £279.2billion in 2022, up 23.7 percent, or £53.5billion, on the previous year.
The US is Britain’s largest trading partner accounting for 16.3 percent of our total trade.
Of the UK’s outward foreign direct investment stock, over £461billion is in the US, 26.1 percent of Britain’s total.
The inward stock (US investment in the UK) is £675.7billion, 33.7 percent of our total inward investment. Of course, the personalities of our leaders can affect the closeness of the political alignment.
Harold Wilson strained relations with Lyndon B. Johnson by refusing to send troops to Vietnam. Bill Clinton didn’t get on with John Major.
At the other end of the spectrum, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan represented a historic high in economic and foreign policy co-operation and Tony Blair and George W Bush were famously close after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The truth is that the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States is too important to allow it to belong to any political party on either side of the Atlantic or any individual leader of whatever political colour.
Our shared values of democracy, rule of law, human rights and free markets are an indispensable roadmap to a better future.
As Winston Churchill himself said in Fulton: “It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistence of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.”
The Prime Minister, as he heads to meet President Biden, knows this is as true today as it ever was.
