Eighty years ago today, Winston Churchill coined the phrase ‘Special Relationship’ to describe the bond between the United States and Great Britain. That label for the close trans-Atlantic friendship, based on a common history, language and culture, and shared political and economic interests, has been repeatedly invoked ever since. Although it has frequently come under strain – notably during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and the Falklands War in 1982 – the US and UK have remained largely aligned. The two countries have broadly sung in chorus from the same song sheet. But can the ‘Special Relationship’ survive Donald Trump and Keir Starmer?

Is it too much to hope that Sir Keir Starmer will follow Eden’s inglorious example?

Is it too much to hope that Sir Keir Starmer will follow Eden’s inglorious example?

Never before this week has an American president openly expressed such blistering contempt for a British leader as Donald Trump when he branded Keir Starmer ‘no Churchill’ – surely the understatement of the century. Speaking at the White House in the presence of – oh, irony of ironies........

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