In the context of David Cameron’s current visit to the US, expat Washingtonian Nile Gardiner’s pieces for the Telegraph have been fascinating, especially this one where readers’ comments branched beyond the recent history of US-UK relations.
Yes, alright, there was that 1940 gaffe – particularly unfortunate since the father of Cameron’s godfather was killed in the Battle of Britain. But more revealing is the ding dong of viewpoints set in the broader perspective.
Of course, Anglo-US relations are a vital national interest for this country. We profit from a close relationship with the States politically, militarily, economically, linguistically, culturally (consider the Staines Massive) … The problem is one of defining the landmass of the much-vaunted ‘Special Relationship’ rather than defying the existence. Its reality famously becomes more ethereal the closer you are to the State Department and the further from the DoD (and the Oval Office of the past). But if you’ve gone out on patrol with the USMC in Sangin or Musa Qaleh you’ll have seen how those bonds - despite obvious differences in style - work. The links are above all practical, and in turn fit into the US’s own broader national interests. That’s why John McCain came close to the mark in his proposals for a League of Democracies, which would have brought in the can-do governments rather than the talkers. Potter around a combat zone with Aussies, Canucks, Cloggies, Norgies and Danes and you’ll see people we are doing business with. There is a commonality at play in the serious NATO countries, if not "Anglo-Saxon" obviously then perhaps something of the Canute. The "Special Relationship" is simply the pinnacle of this cooperation, the practicality underlying an alliance that works. As for the deeper context, in many ways – deep breath, pulls trigger - the American Revolution was one of the greatest tragedies of world history. It divided the English-Speaking nations. It provided an accidental inspiration for a French Revolution that would run out of control and fire cataclysm across a continent. It was often fostered by propaganda rather than reality. It laid the foundation stones for America’s bloody civil war, even perhaps lost an extra generation to slavery.
A score of coffee mugs come crashing down. This is of course an area for conjecture and debate. Counterfactual historians could spend hours time-mapping how world history would have played out if Pitt the Elder’s dream had played true. Of course, 1775 also fostered the genius of localist democracy, and the horsepower of world capitalism today, but without transferring much of that regenerated quality back to the mother country. Our loss, their gain. The division also led to two fraternal wars, several scares involving territorial disputes over the frontiers of Oregon and Maine, a massive compensation settlement over partisanship in the Civil War, and the prospect of a Kaiser-style battleship race even after 1918. The story behind ‘War Plan Red’ is particularly fascinating, until the events of the late 1930s changed the game, redefining the rules of political identity and association; and it is that framework that has stuck with us through shifting world polarities to where we are today. So our links with the United States are politically vital given its continuing - if currently declining - superpower status and wealth. They are culturally invigorating, even if you have never seen a Kevin Spacey play, hate hip hop, or thought Madonna was rubbish in that Bond movie. They are economically important to get right, as the sorry political eddies around BP remind us. There is much more that unites us than divides us. Good luck to Liam Fox and William Hague in keeping official cooperation on track. But while making the most of this alliance, to return to the theme of Cameron’s gaffe we must never forget the countries that were already standing by us in 1940, the nations and peoples which share not just Common Law but also particularly our Queen. That’s why I hope that when Mr Cameron gets over his mustardless hot dog, he’ll starting thinking of a proper visit to tuck into an Australian barbie, and try out Canada’s poutines. After all, a curry is already sensibly on the agenda.
