{"id":326957,"date":"2025-08-08T04:21:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326957\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:21:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:21:40","slug":"meet-warren-stephens-trumps-billionaire-ambassador-to-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326957\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Warren Stephens, Trump\u2019s billionaire ambassador to Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Who won?\u201d I ask the American ambassador. \u201cThe president, of course. I did not play very well and he\u2019s a surprisingly good golfer. He played terrifically<\/a>. He can drive; he can putt,\u201d Warren Stephens replies. The two billionaires have just been playing five hours of golf on Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Turnberry course in Scotland. \u201cThe president and his son Eric beat my son, me and my son-in-law.\u201d<\/p>\n

You sound like the perfect diplomat, I tell him. His wife, Harriet, looking immaculate in a white dress on the sofa at Winfield House in Regent\u2019s Park, central London, laughs. I suspect he could have beaten his opponent. The new American ambassador to the Court of St James\u2019s says he likes bagpipes too and his butler has just delivered a pot of tea. \u201cI love Britain,\u201d he enunciates slowly, in an immaculate Southern drawl.<\/p>\n

This old-school American\u2019s manners are impeccable. He thinks our photographer has addressed him as, \u201cHey, dude,\u201d across the marble hallway, when he actually said, \u201cI\u2019m Jude.\u201d But the ambassador is amused: \u201cI\u2019m happy to be called dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing is too much trouble for the 68th ambassador. \u201cMy wife told me to change my tie for the photograph,\u201d he says. It now matches the gold room perfectly. \u201cIs there anything else you would like me to wear? Morning suit, top hat?\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador and his wife come from Little Rock, Arkansas, where he is the chairman, president and CEO of his family\u2019s vast financial services firm, Stephens Inc, having taken over from his father and uncle and expanded the empire. He won\u2019t say so himself, but his worth is estimated at $3.5 billion
(\u00a32.6 billion) by Forbes and, like the president, he has his own exclusive golf course, the Alotian Club, in his home state.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

Stephens accompanying Donald Trump as he arrives at Prestwick airport near Glasgow last month<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\"Warren<\/p>\n

Stephens on the sixth hole of the Alotian Club course in Arkansas, which he owns, in 2006<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

When he says he is bringing some of his own art to his new home, we\u2019re talking about several stunning C\u00e9zannes, a wonderful Renoir and a Degas, which are now scattered around the residence. Above the drawing room mantelpiece is Monet\u2019s Effet de soleil couchant sur la Seine \u00e0 Port-Villez. It blends in perfectly with the wallpaper, he suggests. \u201cIt almost looks like it was commissioned for this room. My father started the collection \u2014 he had a great friendship with the executive director of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and they worked on it together. He got some great pieces,\u201d the ambassador explains.<\/p>\n

While much of the couple\u2019s own wealth has been spent on art, in particular abstract expressionists, and on philanthropy, Stephens also supported the president\u2019s political campaigns and gave a $4 million donation towards Trump\u2019s second inauguration galas and balls. So, it wasn\u2019t a surprise when the now 47th president announced he was sending the megadonor to London.<\/p>\n

After all, it\u2019s going to be a Maga British summer. First, the president decided to holiday in Scotland at his golf club; next the vice-president, JD Vance, is staying in the Cotswolds. Usually, presidents prefer to head for a Guinness in Ireland. \u201cI tell you, we have a very special relationship with the UK,\u201d the ambassador says. \u201cThe president\u2019s mother, of course, was from Tong in the Hebrides and while we were both in Scotland, he told me repeatedly that she came back every year. She had great respect and reverence for the Queen and some of that love has been passed on to him, which is why he invests so much here. It\u2019s like a second home.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good to know when we are trying to secure a trade deal. What does the 68-year-old ambassador think of the old country? \u201cHarriet\u2019s family are from England, so we already feel a bond.\u201d She explains her ancestry to me. \u201cCaptain William Farrar was one antecedent [he left England for Virginia in 1617]. We are also related to people from Stratford-on-Avon. My father was Scottish, from Luss, so I have stayed at Loch Lomond [Luss is on the loch\u2019s west bank]. At some point, I want to do a roots trip.\u201d The ambassador\u2019s maternal family, meanwhile, were originally Swiss-German and his grandfather fought with the Allied Expeditionary Force in the First World War, so he also feels a bond.<\/p>\n

Yet Vance didn\u2019t sound particularly enamoured when talking about the UK recently. \u201cI think he and his wife are pretty favourably inclined obviously, if they are bringing the family for a vacation over here,\u201d the ambassador says tactfully. \u201cThe special relationship is possibly the strongest it\u2019s been; historically, this is considered the top diplomatic job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone likes dogs here\u2019<\/p>\n

The Stephenses are certainly loving their role. They have the second biggest garden in London after the King, helicopters can come and go and there\u2019s enough room to practise your swing on the 12 acres of lawn. \u201cWe have a 15-year-old spaniel, Maynie, and she has a new lease of life,\u201d the ambassador\u2019s wife says. \u201cEveryone likes dogs here,\u201d says the ambassador. \u201cI think they like dogs better than people, which I understand. So do I sometimes.\u201d Even the weather has been perfect. \u201cIt\u2019s been so warm and sunny you\u2019re trying to make us feel like we\u2019re in Arkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador presented his credentials as soon as he arrived in May. It was like a fairytale, he explains. \u201cIt was a thrill. Harriet and I drove to Buckingham Palace in a gilded carriage. The King was most gracious with his time. Frankly, I was nervous. We had rehearsed here with members of the royal staff, but he was so disarming. He was delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

Presenting his credentials to the King, May 21<\/p>\n

AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Being a Tottenham<\/a> fan has helped. \u201cWhen I met the foreign secretary [David Lammy<\/a>], he said, \u2018The prime minister will make you go to Arsenal<\/a>, but we\u2019ll slip off to a Tottenham game.\u2019 I haven\u2019t been to one yet. I have been to a soccer game, Manchester United<\/a> v Leicester<\/a>, a long time ago and I wanted to watch the Lionesses<\/a>, but I was in Scotland with the president.\u201d Ascot<\/a>, Wimbledon<\/a>, Trooping<\/a> the Colour<\/a>, the Open<\/a>\u2026 They are doing \u201cthe season\u201d, Harriet explains. \u201cIt\u2019s been a busy summer. It never stops here. You must all be exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last ambassador went through four prime ministers in three years. But this ambassador, so far, has only had to contend with a fragmenting of the two-party system, the rise of Reform<\/a> and the return of Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>. \u201cI read the British press every morning to be knowledgeable about issues, and if I want more details, I ask the embassy,\u201d Stephens says. \u201cI have met Kemi Badenoch<\/a>, but just briefly, and I shook hands with Nigel Farage<\/a> at a party. I have been with the PM several times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

Stephens arrives in Downing Street ahead of his meeting with the prime minister in May<\/p>\n

JAMES MANNING\/PA WIRE<\/p>\n

Having visited Britain frequently over the years for work and golf, does he feel it\u2019s changed? \u201cYour focus now is on immigration<\/a>. What I see is what we have seen in our country. We certainly welcome legal immigration, but illegal immigration is another kettle of fish. It puts tremendous strain on the resources of any government, whether the US or UK. They are humans, but you just can\u2019t have people wandering in and expecting state services \u2014 or, in your case, the national health system. That\u2019s not doable. So, I think the PM is doing his best to find a humane way to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer<\/a> could follow America\u2019s example, he suggests. \u201cThe president ran on immigration. If you talk to anyone \u2014 and we have friends in Texas \u2014 it was reaching crisis point and pretty distressing. They had places down there they wouldn\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife interjects. \u201cIn some cases, they found immigrants dead on their property, frozen to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Your energy costs are too high\u2019<\/p>\n

Energy is another problem, continues the Arkansas man who is used to oil drilling on his doorstep. \u201cI have said to the PM, your electricity costs are four times as high as in the US. When he asked me what he needs to do to get more US investment into this country, I said, \u2018Prime Minister, I wasn\u2019t really going to go there in our first meeting, but since you asked, your energy costs are too high<\/a>. You still have enormous fossil fuel potential not only in the North Sea, but there are big shale fields [a source of natural gas] on shore in Lincolnshire. And you buy gas from Norway and they get it from the North Sea. I am not against renewables, but you must use all your assets, because the 21st century is a big consumer of electricity with AI<\/a> and data centres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he think the British have become too obsessed by net zero<\/a>? \u201cTo me, yes. I don\u2019t ever see a world where we are totally off fossil fuels. The US has met its Paris climate accord goals \u2014 we did it by switching from coal to natural gas. I don\u2019t like these windmills \u2014 the president is right, they are unsightly and they do kill a lot of birds. We have them in our country, and I am not saying we dismantle them, but when we were in Nantucket last summer, fibreglass blades and pieces of fibreglass from windmills started washing up on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plight of British farmers<\/a> also concerns him. \u201cThat would be very unpopular if you had to pay inheritance tax on your land in the US. As the president said, we\u2019ve exempted them. The French farmers are pretty cross regularly; I can see why the British are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

We discuss the rise of populism in Europe. The ambassador is less gloomy about Britain than other countries on the continent. \u201cThis is a moment for populism around the world, and to some degree here. But it\u2019s still Britain; you have things that simply aren\u2019t done. You still queue very well.\u201d We say sorry a lot, I suggest. \u201cI haven\u2019t noticed that. But Americans certainly don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anything else that\u2019s particularly British? \u201cSome accents are easier to understand than others,\u201d says Harriet. They both love the British sense of humour. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen A Fish Called Wanda. We are, of course, huge fans of Downton Abbey<\/a>.\u201d They didn\u2019t like Netflix\u2019s The Diplomat about a sassy female American ambassador \u2014 too many kidnap plots and liaisons in the bushes. \u201cWe have been going to museums here with our grandchildren,\u201d she continues. \u201cI love that you don\u2019t charge admission. We went to the Natural History Museum and I asked, \u2018How much is it?\u2019 They said it\u2019s free. I was amazed.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also like the food. \u201cWe like Scott\u2019s and the Ritz and we had a civilised Sunday lunch at the Goring hotel.\u201d She then lists her favourite British designers: Erdem, Emilia Wickstead, plus the trenches at Burberry. \u201cI love New York, but I feel London<\/a> is the most vibrant city in the world now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

Stephens and his extended family with the president in the Oval Office, April 30<\/p>\n

JOYCE N. BOGHOSIAN\/WHITE HOUSE<\/p>\n

She explains that they honeymooned in Bath and London. \u201cWe saw Cats. We love musicals. We\u2019ve been enough in the countryside to know how beautiful it is,\u201d she says. The ambassador adds, \u201cI have been with Californian friends on a shoot near Bristol. I\u2019d like to do more shoots. I\u2019ve only done grouse once \u2014 it\u2019s mainly been pheasant and partridge. I have not been to Wales, which is on our bucket list. But I have been to Scotland and Northern Ireland several times and played on a lot of your golf courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harriet loves the gardens and the fact you can walk a dog on the golf courses. She also shoots occasionally. \u201cI\u2019ll take a peg once in a while. I hunt on horses, but not here. We go quail hunting in South Georgia with two dogs \u2014 it\u2019s a family thing. We love it. Our children all shoot, our grandchildren are learning and our dog is a trained retriever.\u201d They\u2019re friends with Bill Clinton back home. \u201cHe is
from Arkansas, but I\u2019m a Republican<\/a>. President Clinton was very much a centrist, like Tony Blair<\/a>. Clinton is a clever man, but the Democrats<\/a> have drifted pretty far to the left.\u201d She was a huge fan of Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n

Does the ambassador think the British are warming to President Trump a little more the second time round? \u201cWe have spent multiple times with him and he really is charming and funny. We haven\u2019t met his wife, but we have been invited to the Oval Office. We came with our six grandchildren and three children and spouses. It was his 100th day and he was delayed. The grandchildren, aged one to eight, were racing round the office causing chaos. He was so unfazed. He opened his desk drawer and gave them all coins and showed them the American Declaration of Independence. You can tell he is a good grandfather; he has all his family photos. And the bust of Winston Churchill is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephens doesn\u2019t feel his role is to explain Britain to the president but to support him. \u201cThe president is perfectly clear what he thinks on all issues, and he\u2019s very interested in the UK. The difference this time is that he\u2019s had time out of the White House and he knew what he wanted to do \u2014 his team were ready to go and on message, which didn\u2019t happen in the first administration. He is much more focused on overseas now too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president, he believes, should be given the Nobel<\/a> peace prize for all his work. \u201cHe has stopped five or six conflicts. I would be very pleased if he got it \u2014 he deserves it. He absolutely takes these wars to heart, the dying and the suffering in Ukraine<\/a> and Gaza<\/a> particularly, and he is determined to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having watched the president and prime minister together, does he think the two countries\u2019 foreign policies coincide? \u201cI was in the room with them when they had their visit with the press [in Scotland] and they are both committed to finding a way to bring back the hostages in Gaza and get a ceasefire. The images are horrific; getting food and aid to these people must be a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

Stephens in the Oval Office with the president after his ambassadorial swearing-in ceremony<\/p>\n

WHITE HOUSE<\/p>\n

President Trump also said he believed President Putin<\/a> wasn\u2019t pulling his weight. \u201cThe president will have a great conversation with Putin, then go home and turn on the TV in the White House and watch the Russian hitting Kyiv retirement homes and hospitals with missiles. It\u2019s indiscriminate \u2014 that\u2019s not right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The culture wars, he thinks, are subsiding in both countries. \u201cIt was a problem. We have good friends who were great women athletes, and they were leading the charge against trans. You can\u2019t put a biological male in a women\u2019s swimming event \u2014 they\u2019ll win. If they want to compete, they need their own category. The president just used common sense for the country. It was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he feel that the culture wars have been replaced by class warfare in this country, with the introduction of VAT on private school fees and the government cracking down on non-doms<\/a>? \u201cA lot of millionaires are leaving,\u201d he replies. His wife adds, \u201cWe have young friends who loved it here, but they are moving back to Arkansas because of the tax implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador thinks these policies are ill advised. \u201cIn the US the top 10 per cent pay most of the income tax, so why do you want to run them out? You need people who are successful to invest in companies and in philanthropy. Texas has no income tax, and Tennessee; Arkansas has reduced its income tax too. You\u2019ve got to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advice from Peter Mandelson<\/p>\n

Stephens has left his three children to look after the family affairs while he is overseas, but it is his business acumen that has built up the company, steering it through the financial crash in 2008. \u201cI\u2019d like to focus on finance here. The US and the UK, which is where most of the financial firms are, really ought to be interchangeable, meaning as closely aligned from a regulatory standpoint as possible. That would further strengthen the relationship between the two countries and would be a great asset to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

His counterpart in Washington, Lord Mandelson<\/a>, is, I suspect, jealous of the art collection, but has been helpful, his fellow ambassador says. \u201cHe has given us more advice than we gave him; he\u2019s an old hand. When I asked him the proper attire for the King\u2019s garden party, he said, \u2018Morning suit. Don\u2019t fool around.\u2019 I\u2019ve now worn my top hat three times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Warren and Harriet Stephens at Winfield House, Regent\u2019s Park<\/p>\n

JUDE EDGINTON FOR THE TIMES MAGAZINE<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the traditions they both love most. \u201cWe feel that way about our own country but it will be 250 years next July 4 when the Declaration of Independence was ratified \u2014 Britain has 500 years or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have been to Europe but prefer the UK. \u201cWe went to France for my 60th birthday for a military tour of the D-Day beaches and landings. British men like talking about the Second World War and I do too,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s one of my hobbies.\u201d He has a favourite fact that he likes to tell military buffs. \u201cBritain declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor before we did. The president didn\u2019t do so until the following day. I tell Americans there is no D-Day without Britain hanging on in 1940 and 1941. I don\u2019t know what we would have done without them. I feel a sense of gratitude for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before I go, they show me a wonderful painting by Pissarro of Kensington Gardens that has just been hung. \u201cIt\u2019s rather appropriate, don\u2019t you think?\u201d Harriet says. President Trump will be coming over for his second state visit in September. There are new wardrobes to select, more worries over white tie, more art needed for the guest rooms.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why rich Americans are invading the Cotswolds<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The Kardashians sipping tea in the Cotswolds, Eve Jobs\u2019s marriage<\/a> to an English showjumper, the Gates daughters admiring the swans, the Vances bringing their three children to eat scones \u2014 the US elite can\u2019t get enough of Britain\u2019s quaint, honey-coloured villages and rolling hills, I suggest, and they both agree. The Americans are back in style.<\/p>\n

It feels more like an Edith Wharton novel set in the 1870s than 2025. This is old-fashioned glamour and decorum from the Gilded Age. \u201cI would love to go to the Cotswolds,\u201d says the ambassador\u2019s wife. \u201cYou may get your wish,\u201d her husband replies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Who won?\u201d I ask the American ambassador. \u201cThe president, of course. I did not play very well and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-326957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114991234257645514","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}