#ukus-relations

#ukus-relations

Mark Sedwill's prospects of becoming the UK's ambassador in Washington have taken a blow after officials raised concerns about an article he wrote in 2021 praising Joe Biden and criticising Donald Trump. The former cabinet secretary and national security adviser has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Peter Mandelson in Washington. But some in government are worried about an article he wrote four years ago in which he made several criticisms of Trump after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.

"You saw from the state visit last week that there are plenty of things on which the president and I agree, and we are working together. "There are some issues on which we disagree, and what the president said about the mayor, who's doing a really good job, in fact driving down serious crime, what he said about the introduction of Sharia law was ridiculous nonsense."

The UK's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood was a potential flashpoint, with Trump having previously said that the move could reward Hamas. But asked directly about the UK's plans, Trump merely noted that he had a "disagreement" with Starmer on the issue, adding for good measure that it was one of only a "few disagreements" between the pair. Starmer emphasised that the timing of the UK's decision, which is set to take place in the coming days, had "nothing to do" with Trump's visit,

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the agreement represented "a general step change" in Britain's relationship with the US that would deliver "growth, security and opportunity up and down the country". The "tech prosperity deal", announced as Mr Trump arrived in the UK on Tuesday night, will see the UK and US co-operate in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and nuclear power.

After the fortnight the prime minister has had, a spot of rarefied pageantry is just the ticket. The government weathered a three-hour monsoon of questions in the Commons on Tuesday, which amounted to MP after MP asking why on earth Lord Mandelson was appointed as our man in Washington in the first place, and then why it took so long for Sir Keir Starmer to realise his position was untenable.

Global politics had been turned upside down, he told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg programme. The relationship between Britain and America was in a perilous state because of the threat of tariffs, what was happening economically, trying to repurpose and rethink the special relationship. Britain needed somebody with outstanding, singular talents, experience which was very hard to come by. And yes, a lot was known about Peter Mandelson's relationship with Epstein. He had apologised for it. And these two things were weighed up.