00:00So a little bit of a case of any good face time you can get with President Trump, where he's not going to ambush you in a White House press conference, as we've seen from other world leaders, is probably a good thing.
00:12It's probably advantageous from a comms point of view, yes.
00:18Not many world leaders have significant sway over the US president.
00:24Do you think Sir Keir Starmer has any leverage with him?
00:28Do you think they have the kind of relationship where President Trump may listen to what the PM has to say?
00:35Well, a lot is talked about the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.
00:42But that phrase, in fact, was first used by Winston Churchill, speaking in America after the war.
00:48And for him, the special relationship was really based as a wartime leader on intelligence, military sharing of the burden there.
00:59And that's still the basis of the special relationship with the United States.
01:04As a former defense secretary, I can tell you that no two countries share intelligence as closely as the United States and the United Kingdom.
01:13And that still is the basis.
01:14Of course, there is a shared cultural, historical, linguistic heritage, but it's still essentially strongly based on the military and security elements.
01:27And that always makes the United Kingdom be heard a little bit louder in Washington.
Be the first to comment