Yes, the US-UK special relationship is in jeopardy – but not because of Starmer

Trump is no friend of Britain and seems grateful for the slightest excuse to display his contempt for the British. He is indeed the ‘America First’ candidate – the rest of the world comes a very distant second, writes Sean O’Grady

‘To them, he’s Lenin; to us, he’s a bollard’ (Reuters/Getty)

George Bernard Shaw, a superlative exponent of what would nowadays be called observational humour, once said that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language”. There is no finer example of the truth of this aphorism than the description of the present Labour Party, purged, cleansed of socialism and reformed to within an inch of its life, as “far left”.

An absurd allegation to anyone on the British shores of the Atlantic, it appears to be all-too obvious – and dangerous – to the Trump presidential campaign team. Apparently, rather to the surprise of all concerned, Kamala Harris has been “inspired” by the “far-left Labour Party’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric”. If only… one might say.

“Inspired”, here, may be translated as: “Kamala Harris has been completely oblivious to Keir Starmer’s bland but moderately progressive views, normally delivered in a nasal monotone. In fact, she’s never met him”.

To them, he’s Lenin; to us, he’s a bollard. As it happens, it was Joe Biden who was, many years ago, inspired to the point of plagiarism by a passionate Neil Kinnock speech about being the first member of his family “in a thousand generations” to go to college.

What’s more, according to the Republican complaint to the Federal Election Commission, what the British perceive as some harmless “voluntary” campaigning by people in their own time – no doubt characterised by a charmingly amateurishness on the doorstep, as we’re used to – the present custodians of the GOP see as something akin to The Manchurian Candidate.

Serious or not, Donald Trump’s colleagues calling a handful of Labour activists all-too-visibly bumbling around Pennsylvania as “blatant foreign interference” is enough to make any Brit smirk as much as during the recent NHS public consultation.

The Republicans, funnily enough don’t seem to think there’s any problem with the Russians interfering with American elections, as detailed in the Mueller Report. On the contrary, the Kremlin’s well-evidenced and increasingly blatant and successful attempts to sow discord and disorder in American society are breezily dismissed as “the Russian hoax”.

The most that can be said is that it’s inappropriate for any party in any country to go campaigning in other countries. No money seems to have been involved – and the Labour folk are doing nothing new. The Republicans have done far worse, when, back in 1992 they got the then Conservative prime minister, John Major, to permit members of his party to try and dig up dirt on Bill Clinton’s time as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford.

The attempt failed (maybe surprisingly). Clinton got elected – and, so they say, never quite forgave the Tories. He and the Democrats certainly did all he could to help Tony Blair’s New Labour modernise its campaigning and sharpen up its messaging, thus “interfering” in the British general election of 1997.

What does this storm in a teacup teach us? A few useful lessons. It reminds us, were it needed, that Trump’s campaign is worried about their prospects of winning, despite some progress made lately. If Trump was personally involved in this minor diplomatic incident, it is yet another sign that he has a very thin skin. More ominously, it tells us that, if Trump wins, there will be no “special relationship” – not because Starmer is like some interfering super-secret agent of the Comintern, but because Trump is not (and never has been) bothered about the UK, notwithstanding his Scottish mum and golf course.

Even when the Tories were in power, Trump didn’t give Theresa May or Boris Johnson even the whiff of the post-Brexit free-trade bill they craved, and, famously, gives every impression that he has no special commitment to Nato and the defence of Europe. If it looks like a bad deal for the US, then, as he puts it, Vladimir Putin can do whatever the hell he likes (providing he leaves the Trump International Golf links at Turnberry unmolested).

Trump is no friend of Britain and seems grateful for the slightest excuse to display his contempt for the British. He is indeed the “America First” candidate – the rest of the world comes a very distant second.