Nonetheless, Porter predicted: “I think what you’re going to get is a very untidy mix of recognizing changed circumstances while clinging on to the old world order.”
What are the pinch points?
The U.K. is heavily reliant on the U.S. for several key aspects of its defense network, including intelligence-sharing, the nuclear deterrent and F-35 fighter planes.
Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP and former army officer, called for a rethink of the intelligence the U.K. shares with America in the wake of the Signalgate scandal, saying: “When you share intelligence you obviously want to know if these people are trustworthy.”
A second MP working on defense matters, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that when it comes to reducing Britain’s dependence on the U.S., “we should be asking ourselves, publicly and privately, what does that look like.”
That view is seldom reflected, even in private, by ministers or officials, as they stick religiously to the line that there is nothing contradictory in the U.K. and U.S.’s calculations about their own defense.
U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson argued in a speech last week that Trump “is doing Europe a favor by confronting us” with the notion that “we must become less dependent on America while remaining inseparably linked to America.”
