Kim Darroch and the myth of the special relationship

Like a priest standing before the bronze gates of a temple, the British ambassador to Washington serves as the guardian of one of the great modern myths: the idea, conceived by Winston Churchill, that a special relationship exists between the UK and the US. The impression that British ambassadors can wield disproportionate influence in Washington is a legend successive British governments have been keen to burnish – so much so that it has arguably become the central pillar of UK foreign policy since 1945. But the reality – as Donald Trump’s spectacular defenestration of Sir Kim Darroch shows – is rather different.

Perhaps only one ambassador has really ever lived up to the myth. During the 1960s, David Ormsby-Gore, later Lord Harlech, enjoyed extraordinary access to JFK, a family friend who had asked Macmillan to post him to Washington.

From this privileged position, Ormsby-Gore was able to provide unmatched insight to London and it is to him that we also owe the early description of Kennedy’s populist successor, Lyndon B Johnson, as “one of the most egotistical men I have met”.