In a new article, the Atlantic Council makes explicit what should have already been clear over the preceding week—that there is a full offensive by the British to assert their dominant role as part of the U.S.-U.K. special relationship, and rescue the world from the threats of “corrupt autocrats.” Author Peter Westmacott runs down the events of the past week: CIA head Bill Burns issued an op-ed in Financial Times with MI6 Chief Richard Moore, who then appeared at a rare joint appearance together in London. Then Tony Blinken went to London to visit with the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. Immediately following this, Blinken and Foreign Secretary David Lammy went to Kiev to meet with Zelenskyy. This would culminate, he writes, in the visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Washington Sept. 13 to meet with Biden.
The U.K. is upgrading its relationship with the U.S. and the world, Westmacott claims. “After a chaotic few years … the new Labour government is aiming to reset relations with neighbors and allies. That is good news, even if the U.K.-U.S. relationship is already on sounder footing than most.”