Boris Johnson’s Pivot: Goodbye EU, Hello U.S.
Britain’s likely next prime minister chose flattering Donald Trump over supporting his country’s ambassador to Washington.
The British national story goes like this: Here is the country whose empire once spanned the globe, and whose plucky citizens stood up to the Nazis—several years before the United States deigned to get involved in the Second World War.
That mythology has been hugely useful to supporters of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. Freed from the shackles of the EU, these Brexiteers argue, the country can once again assume its rightful leading role on the world stage.
But that argument comes with an asterisk, one, Britain’s ambassador to Washington. In the future, Britain will not be dictated to by foreign powers—except the United States. Yeah, those guys can tell us what to do.
