The UK’s image of its place in the world since the Second World War has rested on the claim to act as the ‘Atlantic bridge’, as Tony Blair used to put it. We were the USA’s closest ally within Europe, and one of the major players, alongside France and Germany, within Europe. The end of the Cold War weakened that claim, as American attention turned towards the Pacific. Brexit weakened it a great deal further. But now Trump Republicans and their British supporters are insisting that we have to choose: follow America, or slide back towards Europe.
The Times on November 16th headlined the statement by Stephen Moore, advising Trump at his Florida base, that ‘Britain must decide – do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market?’ If the latter, then a free trade agreement would be available to avoid the tariff war Trump is threatening to engage in with the EU and others; if not, no deal. This wasn’t a surprise; Daniel Hannan had an Op-ed in the Mail three days before, making the case for Britain accepting a trade deal with the USA and the extra-territorial regulations (on food additives and hygiene, etc.) that would go with it rather than moving closer to the EU Single Market. There are even reports that some in the Trump camp want to extend the North American Free Trade Area to Australia and the UK, to form an Anglo-Saxon grouping (with Mexico as an anomaly) under American leadership.
Brexit was never really about re-establishing British sovereignty. For romantics like Hannan about the superiority of ‘the English-speaking peoples’ and the ‘special relationship’ which was thought to offer Britain continuing global status it was about following the USA and accepting its economic and social model rather than what was seen to be the European alternative – yielding sovereignty to the USA rather than sharing sovereignty with our European neighbours. Boris Johnson’s Churchill fixation pushed him towards the idea that Britain and America were and remain ‘special’ partners. Nigel Farage is an even stronger advocate of Anglo-Saxon solidarity – assuming that the USA will continue to be run by Republican Administrations promoting free markets and a shrunken state.
It’s less and less true that American politicians of either party see the UK as a closer and more special partner than others. Close cooperation between intelligence agencies remains. The shrinking size of Britain’s navy, army and air force has lessened our importance as a strategic partner. The task force that Boris Johnson as prime minister sent to the Pacific depended on American and Dutch support to assemble a credible short-term global deployment. But right-wing think tanks and foundations in the USA see Britain as one of their best fields for their free market/small state/inequality messages to capture, and have done their best to colonise the Conservative Party through financial donations and transatlantic invitations.
The post-war ‘Western’ order rested on the Atlantic Charter, signed by Churchill and Roosevelt, promising ‘freedom from want’ as well as freedom of speech and belief – building on Roosevelt’s social democratic New Deal. US Republicans now depict the New Deal as a socialist enterprise that created an overpowering state, which they are determined to dismantle; and they are doing their best to disconnect the UK from the ‘socialist’ EU.
Social Liberals who hold to the importance of ideas of community, citizenship and – above all – democracy will be determined to resist this rightwing crusade. Moving close to the EU – much closer than the Labour government yet dares to suggest – will be a necessary part of this resistance. Aligning with EU regulations rather than with US standards, from food to data, consulting with European partners on how collectively to respond to US tariffs if and when imposed, will be vital if the Trump Administration carries through on some of its threats. I hope we will not be faced with hard choices between maintaining good relations with the USA and building closer relations with the EU. But I’m sure that the UK must choose the European socio-economic model rather the free-market authoritarianism which Trump Republicans want to pursue.
* William Wallace is Liberal Democrat spokesman on constitutional issues in the Lords.
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22 Comments
“Britain must decide – do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market”
Does anyone really believe that the EU is at all socialist?
The EU doesn’t allow anything like we used to have in a fully Nationalised British Railways. It doesn’t even allow its member countries to regulate their economies by the sensible principles of Keynesian economics!
The genuine socialists in the EU don’t seem to be doing very well at the moment electorally. On the rare occasion they actually do get elected they get squashed by the EU bureaucracy.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/crushing-of-syriza-aesopian-fable/
“Britain must decide – do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market”
Does anyone really believe that the EU is at all socialist?
The EU doesn’t allow anything like we used to have in a fully Nationalised British Railways. It doesn’t even allow its member countries to regulate their economies by the sensible principles of Keynesian economics!
The genuine socialists in the EU don’t seem to be doing very well at the moment electorally. On the rare occasion they actually do get elected they get squashed by the EU bureaucracy.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/crushing-of-syriza-aesopian-fable/
“ do you want to go towards the US free market?’ If the latter, then a free trade agreement would be available to avoid the tariff war”
A free trade agreement according to Trump will be a capitulation by Westminster to be subservient to US interests. Not sure how the Brexiteers will take that loss of sovereignty…
@ Roland,
“A free trade agreement according to Trump will be a capitulation by Westminster to be subservient to US interests. Not sure how the Brexiteers will take that loss of sovereignty… ”
We have a FTA with the EU. I don’t think many “Brexiteers” consider this to be a loss of sovereignty. Whether we will also have a FTA with USA remains to be seen. If we do we probably won’t be told how our laws have to align with theirs or what our allowable deficits might be.
It will depend on the T&Cs of the FTA. I expect there will be the usual complaints about “chlorinated chickens”! Pro EU types tend to be also be pro animal rights except when it comes to how the EU treats its ducks and geese though. Google {You Tube France Pate Geese Ducks}. Not easy watching so be warned!
This is far worse than treating chickens with a chlorine solution if they have been humanely killed first.
Those towns that voted heavily to leave , were hardly wallowing in some EU socialist model.
What many don’t want is unending immigration – if Starmer doesn’t get control of our borders – progressive politicians will only have themselves to blame if voters across the EU and UK look to someone who will ..The Dems in the US learnt the hard way by losing the white house senate & state .. The loss of control of the Southern border had ramifications beyond it’s locality .
William, it seems to me like you’re presenting this as a binary choice: We either follow Europe or we follow horrible Trumpian America. But it isn’t. The UK is an independent country. We are perfectly free to carry on, working with and cooperating with BOTH America AND the EU/European countries as appropriate (as well as with other countries). Granted working with a Trump-led American Government is going to be difficult, but he won’t be around for ever. Trump is not the USA! While he’s there, it makes diplomacy and working towards stuff like tackling climate change and supporting Ukraine harder – but then working with people like Orban in Europe presents the same challenges. I just don’t buy that we need to make an either/or choice.
Europe or USA: do we now have to choose?
So a choice between a stairway to potential prosperity or back on the pathway to poverty. We’ve already tried the EU model and it was a failure – GDP per capita has been stagnant since 2008 and for many outside the South-East even longer. The difference between the EU and US is stark…
.
‘EU in economic stagnation, but Starmer imagines it is the UK’s salvation’ [October 2024]:
https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/10/eu-in-economic-stagnation-but-starmer-imagines-it-is-the-uks-salvation/
There are even reports that some in the Trump camp want to extend the North American Free Trade Area to Australia and the UK, to form an Anglo-Saxon grouping (with Mexico as an anomaly) under American leadership.
It would make rather more sense for the US to join the CPTPP. Both Canada and Mexico are already members, along with Australia, New Zealand and (from December 15th.) the UK. It’s the US which is the anomaly here.
It’s less and less true that American politicians of either party see the UK as a closer and more special partner than others.
Like him or loathe him, Nigel Farage probably knows more about the incoming Trump administration’s thinking than anyone else in the UK. In his recent interview on the Winston Marshall Show, he says: “This is the most pro-British American president in decades and it gives us, with Brexit, a remarkable opportunity, economically…everything else. We can be in a position to negotiate quickly with the new Trump regime and he’s on our side.”
We’re not starting from cold; we’ve already had five rounds of trade negotiations with the first Trump administration in 2020 before they were knocked on the head by the incoming Biden administration.
The UK does need to have reciprocal free trade agreements with its major trading partners including both the EU and USA.
Canzuk International is an international advocacy organisation which aims to achieve the free movement of citizens, free trade agreements and foreign policy cooperation between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom through intergovernmental action and the formation of a proposed diplomatic alliance known as CANZUK. I think this might be more in the interests of the UK rather than becoming the 51st state of the USA.
@Peter Martin
Yes we need a trade agreement, however, given what we know about Trump, the one he offers will most definitely put US interests first. Remember with Trump pre-existing agreements don’t mean much – given the permitted get outs which have been used by Trump and retained by Biden, which have been used against non-US companies…
It’s worth remembering that Boris Johnson promised that an FTA with the first Trump Administration would be easy and give us everything we wanted without major downsides. And, to reiterate: there are many around Trump now who want to force the UK to choose, with supporters on the UK Right who say that this will ‘free’ Britain from European regulations (without admitting that we will then adopt US ones). I note that in the past two days two articles in the FT (the paper that Badenoch and her like hate…) have made similar arguments to mine.
This is a really well written article however I do ultimately think, as Simon observed, that we shouldn’t fall into a binary mindset. The world is more multipolar and pluralistic now than at any time any of us can remember. If there are any meaningful benefits of Brexit – stick with me – surely our agility within that multipolar world would be one of them. The UK’s accession to CPTPP happens on 15th December. It reduces trade barruers to a host of countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, and other emerging democracies and thus as a counter weight to Chinese dominance. Whilst in no way compensating for the loss of Single Market membership, perhaps it offers a model for our open trade positioning in the world this century.
@Joseph Bourke While ‘CANZUK’ may be preferable to becoming the 51st state, it’s still fantasy – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/09/canzuk-brexiters-imperial-canada-australia-new-zealand-uk-empire
CANZUK International was originally called the Commonwealth Freedom of Movement Organisation (CFMO) which worked on the assumption that ‘Commonwealth’ equated ‘Old’ or ‘White’ Commonwealth, which tells you all you need to know about it. Ironically, Brexit has seen increased immigration from the ‘New’ or ‘Non-White’ Commonwealth.
Granted, Canada and Australia cooperate on international matters, allowing citizens of one country access to consular access the other, the two countries have disagreed on other ones like apartheid South Africa remaining in the Commonwealth, the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, all of which Ottawa opposed or didn’t get involved in, while Canberra did. As for New Zealand, Wellington does its own thing, with a much reduced defence force now not much bigger than Ireland’s.
The Trans Tasman Travel Arrangement between Australia and New Zealand makes socioeconomic and geopolitical sense, just as the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland does, but would Canada, Australia or New Zealand be prepared to reciprocate freedom of movement with the UK? No, just as they didn’t offer our young citizens two-year working holidaymaker visas to match the ones we gave theirs.
Our historic pragmatic approach will serve us well when answering this question. There are advantages to both spheres and moving decisively in one direction will not be to our long term advantage. The Liberal Democrats are ideologically more aligned with Europe but ignoring any opportunities that America offers would be foolhardy.
Trump loves flattery, it overrides what little common sense he has.. I remember his first ‘cabinet’ meeting where the first words of every member was to praise Donald as ‘the greatest human being who has ever lived (an audience with an aging Henry V111 couldn’t have been more humiliating)..
Invite him to Buck House, give him dinner at guildhalls, etc. and stall for time..As Simon R pointed out, “He won’t be around for ever”
Ken Westmoreland 23rd Nov ’24 – 3:35pm:
…would Canada, Australia or New Zealand be prepared to reciprocate freedom of movement with the UK? No, just as they didn’t offer our young citizens two-year working holidaymaker visas to match the ones we gave theirs.
.
As part of the recently implemented UK-Australia FTA, Australia now offers a three-year Working Holiday Maker Visa…
.
‘UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement: mobility explainer’ [December 2021]:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-australia-fta-mobility-explainer/uk-australiafree-trade-agreement-mobility-explainer-web-version
Supporters of Trump have established a word-wide movement that is working hard to influence people everywhere including the UK. In the USA Trump is set on establishing long term changes throughout the system of governance and influence that will outlast him, as Tom Arms in his Oped today on this site shows. So the only answer must involve a world-wide progressive movement that provides a sensible alternative, is long term in its aims and good at communicating with people.
@Jeff -Thanks, certainly better than the old one-year working holidaymaker visa offered to British citizens when Commonwealth citizens got two. However, to return to ‘CANZUK’, it’s just an acronym and doesn’t add to what relations already exist between the countries concerned.
@Jeff – Thanks, certainly better than the old one-year working holidaymaker visa offered to British citizens when Commonwealth citizens got two. However, to return to ‘CANZUK’, it’s just an acronym and doesn’t add to what relations already exist between the countries concerned.
It seems ironic that Nigel Farage wanted us to gain British sovereignty from the EU only to then want to cede it to the US.
Trump of course prefers to do bilateral deals because the US is in a far stronger negotiating position with smaller countries than with a trade block that is roughly the same size that it is, for example the EU.
Ceding sovereignty to the US? That’s just absurd over-exaggerated hyperbole. Granted it’s unedifying to see Farage and other right wing politicians cozying up to Trump, but no-one is talking about giving the US the right to set British laws in the way the EU did. We’re talking about cooperating with the US and about whether our economy should be run in a way that’s similar to the European model or similar to the US model. None of that is about giving sovereignty to the US. Can we have this discussion without making up things that aren’t true?
@Simon R
There none who are so blind as those who refuse to look.
The has been the US’s poodle for many years, playing with the EU in ways that forwarded US interests. Here in the UK Johnson et al have been pushing US interests; for example with respect to the NHS and through NHS Digital a private company (not part of the NHS) attempting to extract UK patient data for the benefit of US healthcare providers.
By the way Westminster didn’t talk about the level of law making they willingly handed over to Brussels; the lack of a referendum I remember was a big part of Brexit… So I don’t expect Westminster (exspecially a Conservative Westminster) to be public about what it has ceded to US interests…