It was a phrase coined by Sir Winston Churchill and has been used by successive British prime ministers over the intervening decades to describe the UK’s strong bond with America.
But after a suggestion that Liz Truss is not overly keen on the term, the White House has offered to suspend use of the “special relationship”.
In his first meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, Joe Biden, the US president, instead told Ms Truss: “You’re our closest ally in the world.”
But the term “special relationship” was conspicuously absent from Ms Truss’ sit down with Mr Biden ahead of the pair’s meeting at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.
The White House later denied that the term had been “retired”.
A senior official at first appeared surprised to hear reporters suggest that Ms Truss finds the phrase “a little bit demeaning”.
“Demeaning of who?” replied the official, adding: “I mean, Joe Biden didn’t invent the phrase.”
The official later quipped: “We’ll shut it down until we can figure out what’s going on.”
The idea of abandoning the term “special relationship” was first mooted by Boris Johnson, who was reported to believe it made the UK appear “needy and weak”.
Downing Street later confirmed that the then-prime minister “prefers not to use the phrase”, while stressing it “in no way detracts” from the importance of Britain’s relationship with its closest ally.
Mr Johnson’s successor also appears to dislike the phrasing, which was adopted by Mr Churchill in one of his most significant post-war speeches in 1946.
In a speech as foreign secretary last year, Ms Truss stressed that Britain’s relationship with the US is “special but not exclusive”, stressing that “there are other allies too”.
Ms Truss was also reported to have questioned the validity of the term during one of her first meetings as foreign secretary with her Antony Blinken, her US counterpart.
The White House said Mr Biden had a “candid” discussion about the Northern Ireland Protocol, with the US president insisting it be kept and is a matter of “personal importance”.
But officials said later that Mr Biden did not use a possible trade deal to threaten Ms Truss over Northern Ireland.
Despite the contract and the safeword ?
Finally, tackling the real issues. Great job peeps
Uuf, not enough enthusiasm in the last pegging session, I suppose?
to be clear, it’s the UK that signaled dissatisfaction with the expression
>But after a suggestion that Liz Truss is not overly keen on the term, the White House has offered to suspend use of the “special relationship”.
Haha they felt the term was demeaning after the UK became a smaller power by their own hand out of pride. Biden was like “sure thing little buddy we’ll find a new label for ya”
Finally something I can agree with Liz Truss on, it made me cringe every time I heard the term too.
It is assuring to know that the government knows that the best way to maintain diplomatic relations and perhaps even begin the process to start a trade deal with the world’s superpower is to start fault-finding and complaining about identitarian non-issues.
Demeaning to use a term your own nation came up with? Lol. After alienating your european allies you’d think giving your closest ally, and only other option, the cold shoulder would be a bad move, but oh well I guess. UK seems determined to lose all their international influence.
So this country’s economy is tanking and her grand strategy is to make enemies with both France and the US? Okay.
Brits always seems to have a weird association with the term while in the US it’s really just seen as an acknowledgment of shared history.
Unfortunately they’re only pausing use of the term, not the relationship itself.
What we need right now is Earth Relationship, otherwise we are fucked (search “General AI Weaponization”..).
Classic virtue signalling from truss
I prefer to think of the US and UK as “Eskimo brothers”. Lord knows we’ve both fucked a lot of the same countries.
The phrase “Special Relationship” in regards to the UK and the USofA means a lot to ‘Muricans. It means you’ve got our back and we’ve got your back and always will, damnit. We may give you Nigels a 4th of July cheek and you’ll crack on our Billy Joe Bob’s weight and culture from time to time. But nobody better get between us. There’s nothing but pain for those that may try. In WW2 you waited for us to get across the pond. Then you stayed with us until the very bloody end on the other side of the world. Without each other we wouldn’t be the same.
16 comments
It was a phrase coined by Sir Winston Churchill and has been used by successive British prime ministers over the intervening decades to describe the UK’s strong bond with America.
But after a suggestion that Liz Truss is not overly keen on the term, the White House has offered to suspend use of the “special relationship”.
In his first meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, Joe Biden, the US president, instead told Ms Truss: “You’re our closest ally in the world.”
But the term “special relationship” was conspicuously absent from Ms Truss’ sit down with Mr Biden ahead of the pair’s meeting at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.
The White House later denied that the term had been “retired”.
A senior official at first appeared surprised to hear reporters suggest that Ms Truss finds the phrase “a little bit demeaning”.
“Demeaning of who?” replied the official, adding: “I mean, Joe Biden didn’t invent the phrase.”
The official later quipped: “We’ll shut it down until we can figure out what’s going on.”
The idea of abandoning the term “special relationship” was first mooted by Boris Johnson, who was reported to believe it made the UK appear “needy and weak”.
Downing Street later confirmed that the then-prime minister “prefers not to use the phrase”, while stressing it “in no way detracts” from the importance of Britain’s relationship with its closest ally.
Mr Johnson’s successor also appears to dislike the phrasing, which was adopted by Mr Churchill in one of his most significant post-war speeches in 1946.
In a speech as foreign secretary last year, Ms Truss stressed that Britain’s relationship with the US is “special but not exclusive”, stressing that “there are other allies too”.
Ms Truss was also reported to have questioned the validity of the term during one of her first meetings as foreign secretary with her Antony Blinken, her US counterpart.
The White House said Mr Biden had a “candid” discussion about the Northern Ireland Protocol, with the US president insisting it be kept and is a matter of “personal importance”.
But officials said later that Mr Biden did not use a possible trade deal to threaten Ms Truss over Northern Ireland.
Despite the contract and the safeword ?
Finally, tackling the real issues. Great job peeps
Uuf, not enough enthusiasm in the last pegging session, I suppose?
to be clear, it’s the UK that signaled dissatisfaction with the expression
>But after a suggestion that Liz Truss is not overly keen on the term, the White House has offered to suspend use of the “special relationship”.
Haha they felt the term was demeaning after the UK became a smaller power by their own hand out of pride. Biden was like “sure thing little buddy we’ll find a new label for ya”
Finally something I can agree with Liz Truss on, it made me cringe every time I heard the term too.
It is assuring to know that the government knows that the best way to maintain diplomatic relations and perhaps even begin the process to start a trade deal with the world’s superpower is to start fault-finding and complaining about identitarian non-issues.
Demeaning to use a term your own nation came up with? Lol. After alienating your european allies you’d think giving your closest ally, and only other option, the cold shoulder would be a bad move, but oh well I guess. UK seems determined to lose all their international influence.
So this country’s economy is tanking and her grand strategy is to make enemies with both France and the US? Okay.
Brits always seems to have a weird association with the term while in the US it’s really just seen as an acknowledgment of shared history.
Unfortunately they’re only pausing use of the term, not the relationship itself.
What we need right now is Earth Relationship, otherwise we are fucked (search “General AI Weaponization”..).
Classic virtue signalling from truss
I prefer to think of the US and UK as “Eskimo brothers”. Lord knows we’ve both fucked a lot of the same countries.
The phrase “Special Relationship” in regards to the UK and the USofA means a lot to ‘Muricans. It means you’ve got our back and we’ve got your back and always will, damnit. We may give you Nigels a 4th of July cheek and you’ll crack on our Billy Joe Bob’s weight and culture from time to time. But nobody better get between us. There’s nothing but pain for those that may try. In WW2 you waited for us to get across the pond. Then you stayed with us until the very bloody end on the other side of the world. Without each other we wouldn’t be the same.