On Tuesday, 23rd January 2018 I again met the new US Ambassador to the UK, Robert Wood Johnson, at a reception in the Speaker’s House at Parliament.
Regular readers of this E-Newsletter will recall that the former US Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun, visited Northampton as my guest about two years ago.
I was able to showcase Northampton to the former Ambassador as we visited Kingsthorpe College and the Guildhall. I also later gave Ambassador Barzun a BBC Radio Northampton mug as a memento of his visit to our town. You can read more about these occasions by clicking on the following links: https://www.michaelellis.co.uk/news/barack-obama%E2%80%99s-ambassador-michael%E2%80%99s-guest-northampton and https://www.michaelellis.co.uk/news/michael-visits-us-embassy-give-ambassador-gift-northampton.
I shared a very positive relationship with the previous Ambassador and I am confident that I will share such a relationship with the new Ambassador.
There is no doubt about the importance of the Anglo-American Special Relationship that our country shares with the US, in fact I believe the relationship is as strong and as important as ever. The nature and depth of US-UK relations on the matter of security and intelligence has undoubtedly saved British lives, as the Home Secretary pointed out – our cooperation on these matters far outstrips the relationship the United States has with any other country.
Indeed, on crucial economic matters the Special Relationship is incredibly vibrant: the UK is the single biggest investor into the US- and vice versa!
A recent report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) stated that the UK’s investment into the US supports over one million jobs. In 2015, the US accounted for 19.7% of the UK’s total exports and 11.1% of the UK’s total imports. As we leave the European Union and become more global, we must do everything we can to support our strong relations with the world’s biggest economy.