The UK’s top diplomat in Washington, Christian Turner, was said to have claimed the scandal over his predecessor Peter Mandelson almost ended Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister
Britain’s new ambassador to the US suggested the only special relationship America has is with Israel, according to leaked remarks.
Christian Turner was also said to have claimed the scandal over his predecessor Peter Mandelson almost ended Keir Starmer’s tenure as Prime Minister. According to the comments from February – published by the Financial Times – Mr Turner said he disliked the phrase “special relationship” to describe UK-US ties.
He said the term was “quite nostalgic, it’s quite backwards-looking, and it has a lot of baggage about it”, adding: “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States — and that is probably Israel.” But according to the recording he added of the UK-US bond: “There is a deep history and affinity between us. Particularly on defence and security, we are intertwined.”
The remarks have been made public with US-UK relations already at rock bottom over the Iran war fallout and a particularly sensitive time with King Charles on the second day of historic state visit to America.
The Foreign Office said the “private, informal” comments were made in early February at an event with UK students visiting Washington DC and “are certainly not any reflection of the UK Government’s position.”
According to the leaked recording, Mr Tuner described the saga over Lord Mandelson appointment as a crisis that “has nearly brought down the government and ended the Prime Minister’s tenure”.
In extraordinary remarks, Mr Turner was also said to have discussed the threshold within the Labour Party rulebook to remove a Prime Minister. He said: “80 MPs have to sign a letter in public, which is like signing your death warrant. It’s much harder than for the Tories. So I think that is still quite difficult and Keir personally is a, you know, he’s a stubborn guy. He’s never lost a fight he’s in. And so I think Keir saying, ‘I’m quitting’ is quite a high bar.”
Mr Turner went on: “So probably the moment I would look to is the May elections. If Labour does very badly . . . I suspect the party will move to go over that threshold and remove him — it seems to me to be the conventional thinking.” He added: “If they do OK, he might carry on going . . . that’s just for me as a citizen speculating because I have to serve whomever is there.”
A Foreign Office spokesman told The Mirror : “These were private, informal comments made to a group of UK sixth-form students visiting the US in early February. They are certainly not any reflection of the UK Government’s position.”