However, growing up, somehow, the idea of both countries being close allies was inherently comforting. A united front recovering from the 2008 recession against the growing totalitarian trend spreading across the political landscape. With the UK at the forefront of the European Union and America intent on benefiting from globalisation rather than fearing it, times (at least from a distant perspective) looked promising.
Today, we find ourselves in a dark time for democracy. In the UK, we have a growing right wing, dragging us on a course to utter isolation armed with xenophobic and populist solutions to the issues of inflation and the cost of living crisis. While in the US, the default of a put together and respectful president has been replaced by a satsuma coloured high-school bully, who has divided the US more than pineapple on pizza.
The U.S.A was once the leader of the free-world. The global superpower dedicated to the eradication of inequality has appointed a leader who looks to Vladamir Putin, the man who invaded a sovereign and democratic Ukraine, as a ‘friend’. America’s creed used to sing the songs of justice and freedom, now it mumbles the words of hate and ignorance, and the UK isn’t much better.
The truth is, this ‘special relationship’ the UK shares with America has only ever been significantly ‘special’ to the UK. While for decades they have shared the same global ideologies, the US is simply much more powerful than the UK. The change in today's world has actually come from the switch in both countries' directions. For years America was keen to maintain a special relationship with the UK as they shared the same ideals and plans for a united west, now they do not. Trump’s political enemies were once America’s greatest allies, and its greatest enemies are now its friends.
If you told 1960’s America that their president today would attack a democratic Ukrainian president and support the invasion of a Russian dictator, they would likely blow your head off with a 12 gauge shotgun.
In conclusion, with Trump’s planned tariffs for Europe imminently approaching, we see the prime-minister of our country beg for economic mercy from a ruthless and unpredictable president. Starmer references the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries, yet this is not a relationship anymore. Instead, Starmer poses a desperate dance to please a tyrannical-like leader who dictates the tune of global politics as we know it.