Theresa May will pledge to “renew the special relationship for this new age” when she meets with president Donald Trump on Friday.
MPs, including some from May’s own Conservative party, have expressed their reservations about May’s visit given Trump’s controversial comments and stances on a range of issues.
You cannot lead on a global stage by advocating torture, disgusting racial stereotyping & turning back the clock on women's rights worldwide https://t.co/LqNQ08Lgbu
— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) January 25, 2017
We’ve been hearing from our readers on the importance or otherwise of the special relationship. Is May’s charm offensive on the new president crucial realpolitik or lending legitimacy to a repellent regime?
‘It shows how much smaller we’ve become after Brexit’
‘Is the PM hoping to pick up some tips?’
I noticed that the start of "making America great again" is by aggressively attempting to intimidate the press so they only report positive things about the glorious leader, even when his representatives are caught out by lying over even the simplest things that have hard facts behind them, such as being the most well attended inauguration ever and adding "alternative facts" to their rich dictionary of euphemisms such as "collateral damage" for "we killed innocents"
The question is thus if the PM is going over there for a deal, or to pick up some tips..
‘She’s desperate’
She's desperate, we're desperate. We're cutting ourselves off from our key trading market so have to cosy up to a tyrant whilst the rest of the world protests. It is the British way, jusy look at the way we grovel to the Saudis so we can sell them arms, business as usual for the Torys. Taking back our sovereignty to be the slave of despots.
‘Getting too involved is a dangerous game’
You really believe that upholding human rights; considering whether our close ties to the US will make countries Trump is attacking think twice about doing a trade deal with us; or indeed whether Trump will try to make a condition of any deal that we don't make deals with countries he deems 'hostile', as was the case with Cuba for many years, is sixth form politics?
Getting too involved with leaders who may have been democratically elected, but show a propensity to behave in an un-democratic fashion is a dangerous game, as history has taught us, and a sensible leader will watch to see how things are developing before becoming too close.
‘The UK has a good ally and is in a good position’
Given that Trump has such undisguised contempt for the EU, it could be said that the UK has a good ally and is in a good position as it makes its way out of the EU. Things would have been more tricky for the UK and, conversely, the EU would have had a stronger hand in Brexit negotiations, had Clinton been elected. And in all this, Farage is not inconsequential. What we know about Trump is that he sets great store by personal loyalty and friendship especially during crucial moments.
‘May probably feels she has no choice’
Desperate Brexiting requires desperate measures. May probably feels she has no choice but to get into bed with Donald Trump's America; but I do wish she would stop spreading the outright lie that "the British people voted with determination and quiet resolve" to leave the EU. There is no evidence that this can be inferred from those who voted in favour of leaving and poignantly ignores those who voted to remain. This is no way to reunite this nation after such a fractious and often debased debate.
‘Trump is not interested in global responsibilities’
On day one the president promised to put "America first". That statement probably appealed to his motley base including the deplorables, but the rest of the world should take note of Trump's lack of interest in the USA's global responsibilities. He's going to be isolationist, except of course where the military needs to try out all the armaments they're pointlessly buying. Let Theresa May pretend there's a special relationship if she wants, but nobody's ever going to get Trump to take a lead in massive problems such as climate change etc.
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Theresa May's embarrassing attempts to ingratiate herself with Donald Trump - a man she wouldn't have given a second thought to only a few months ago - in the hope of getting just a part in the back, shows just how much smaller we've become after Brexit.
It's made us more vulnerable to vagaries of international relations and less able to resist pressures from larger and more powerful economies. We should have a PM with confidence to defend the international legal order based on rule of law and human rights. Instead, we have to witness the sorry spectacle a British prime ministers kowtowing to a Putin puppet because we're isolated and can no longer afford to to take a stand for our principles.