This Side of the Pond

You may have noticed in the news this last week that the “special relationship” between my homeland and yours has once again been strengthened.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared together on Thursday to announce the Atlantic Declaration, tying our two countries together more tightly than ever before.

Whatever one might think of the two leaders and their administrations, I have strong ties to both countries and would have difficulty faulting either one of them for this move. Nor would I want to do so even if this wasn’t the case – we’ve been one another’s strongest allies for too long.

It’s not quite the free trade deal that Britain has been hoping for – the possibility of allying more closely on trade with the U.S. was one of the big arguments made by those who wanted us to leave the European Union during the Brexit debacle. However, it is designed to strengthen cooperation in numerous different ways.

For instance, the intent is for this agreement to “reduce vulnerabilities” across critical supply chains, keep Russia out of the global civil nuclear power market, create new investment and reduce trade barriers in the “technologies of the future”.

Biden and Sunak said it was about responding to the challenges of the moment, which include economic security for both nations and rising challenges from China and Russia.

It’s also about building prosperity and creating jobs, as well as create a “Data Bridge” to share information between businesses and organizations on each side of the Atlantic.

It will also include an international summit on AI safety (which I am a strong supporter of because I’ve seen the Terminator movies so I know exactly what all those clever little computer programs are planning) and more collaboration on future technologies, such as quantum and 6G.

Sunak issued a statement through 10 Downing Street calling the declaration, “a new standard for economic co-operation, propelling our economies into the future so we can protect our people, create jobs and grow our economies together.”

He noted, quite rightly, that the UK and U.S. have always “pushed the boundaries of what two countries can achieve together”, sharing intelligence that neither lets anyone else take a look at and building “the strongest investment relationship in world history”.

What lovely words to hear. Everyone needs good friends, even entire nations.

This “special relationship” has existed since America was born, though I think we can all agree it didn’t get off to the best of starts. We grumbled our way to diplomatic relations a couple of years after the Revolution, but fell out again (in spectacular style, as I’m sure you’re already aware) during the War of 1812.

Fortunately, those were blips, and we’ve been best buddies ever since. If you ask the U.S. Department of State, they will tell you that the relationship reflects common democratic ideals and values, reinforced through cooperation on political, security and economic issues.

If you ask the U.S. Embassy in the United Kingdom, they will tell you that the U.S. has no closer ally than the UK and that British foreign policy emphasizes close coordination with our American friends – as was seen in the long list of conflicts through which we have fought side by side, from the world wars to Korea, the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan.

Not so pithy a summary, of course, as the phrase we owe to Sir Winston Churchill. The words “special relationship” were first uttered in an address he gave in Missouri in 1946, a year after World War II came to an end.

Churchill, you see, felt that the friendship between his country and yours was not just important, but the only thing capable of maintaining the fragile balance of power. Under the shadow of two devastating world wars and with the Soviet Union’s power growing (he coined the phrase “iron curtain” in the very same speech, which he titled “The Sinews of Peace”), he called for the English-speaking world to come together in mutual defense and aid.

“If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of the United Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one’s land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come,” he said.

He was right, but then Churchill tended to be right about an awful lot of things, much to the irritation of his opponents. Shortly after his speech, the UKUSA Agreement established an unprecedented level of intelligence sharing.

We’ve had our ups and downs – what friends don’t? – but I don’t think we’ll be falling out again any time soon. “There is no issue of global importance, none, that our nations are not leading together and where we’re not sharing our common values to make things better,” said Biden on Thursday.

As a child of both great nations, that makes me very happy indeed.