A gift that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sent to his British counterpart, John Healey, was held by British officials because of U.K. ministerial gifts rules.
Hegseth sent Healey, the U.K. minister of defense, a cowboy statue and a photograph in March, but the U.K. defense department retained it.
The Context
Hegseth’s gift came as he met Healey in the Pentagon on March 6. The pair previously convened in Brussels in February ahead of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters.
The relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. is seen as of utmost importance and officials frequently meet to negotiate common interests and share policy ideas.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a meeting with Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister Elmer Schialer and Peru’s Minister of Defense Walter Astudillo at the Pentagon, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a meeting with Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister Elmer Schialer and Peru’s Minister of Defense Walter Astudillo at the Pentagon, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
What To Know
According to U.K. government transparency information released in April, Hegseth sent Healey a “solid bronze cowboy statue and framed photo” on March 5, ahead of one of their meetings. But it was held by the U.K. Ministry of Defence because its monetary value was above the limit British ministers may receive.
Ministers are allowed to accept gifts up to the value of £140 ($184.72 USD). They must declare anything worth more than that and can either pay the difference to keep the gift or leave it with their department.
The value of the gift and what the photograph depicted is not known.
Newsweek contacted the U.K. and U.S. defense departments by email to comment on this story.
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek, Mark Shanahan, an expert in American politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K. called it a “minor diplomatic faux pas.”
“U.K. governmental ministers receive all kinds of weird and wonderful gifts, especially when they are in roles that bring them into contact with high-level stakeholders from other countries,” he said.
“Perhaps Hegseth should have checked them [ministerial rules] before making this minor diplomatic faux pas.”
Thomas Whalen, an associate professor who teaches U.S. politics at Boston University: “Probably not the most diplomatic thing to do. The cowboy is generally viewed as a symbol of gunslinging American lawlessness abroad. The cowboy operates on his own personal code heedless of others.
“This is precisely how Europeans and much of the rest of the world feel the U.S. operates on the international stage to the detriment of everyone.”
What Happens Next
While Hegseth navigates international relations, the defense boss has directed military academies to strictly enforce merit-based admissions, explicitly prohibiting consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex.
Meanwhile, relations between the U.S. and the U.K. seem positive as Trump announced a new trade agreement with the country on Thursday.