ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is traveling to Washington for meetings with President Biden. This will be the second in-person conversation the pair will have had in the two months since Starmer took office. The discussions will largely focus on foreign affairs. But as Willem Marx reports, the two men will also seek to publicly recommit to a decades-old special relationship between their two nations.
WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: After the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter, committing Britain and the United States to a partnership that's lasted ever since and indeed strengthened over the past quarter-century.
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BILL CLINTON: It's been a real pleasure to welcome my friend, Prime Minister Blair, here to Washington. It continues a great tradition of partnership between our nations, anchored by common values, driven by common vision.
MARX: Presidents Clinton and Bush both forged close friendships with Tony Blair, a crucial ally after the attacks on 9/11.
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GEORGE W BUSH: America has no truer friend than Great Britain.
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BUSH: I'm so honored the British Prime Minister's crossed an ocean to show his unity. With America. Thank you for coming, friend.
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MARX: This so-called special relationship has continued for more than 80 years now, on through Barack Obama and David Cameron...
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DAVID CAMERON: And through it all, the strong and essential partnership between our nations has never been more important.
MARX: ...Theresa May and Donald Trump...
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DONALD TRUMP: The relationship is very, very strong. We've really had a very good relationship.
MARX: ...Boris Johnson and Joe Biden.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: We affirmed the special relationship, as it is not said lightly - the special relationship between our people.
MARX: Just this past week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited London en route to Kyiv, telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a room surrounded by camera flashes, that the relationship was not just special but essential.
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ANTONY BLINKEN: We are together dealing with a greater complexity, a greater multiplicity, a greater interconnectedness of problems than ever before. But the fact that we're doing it side by side makes all the difference and a tremendous sense of confidence for us.
MARX: Starmer's team says his trip over to Washington is to find time for, quote, "strategic, in-depth discussions." And though Downing Street says meetings with presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not planned, it's still a chance for Starmer to strengthen ties to specific individuals in D.C., according to Andrew Gawthorpe, a lecturer in U.S. politics at Leiden University.
ANDREW GAWTHORPE: British Prime Ministers are always looking to shore up their support and build links to Washington. That's particularly important right now because even though Biden may appear to be a lame duck president, there's a big hope in London that Kamala Harris will be his successor. And Starmer still wants to build links with this administration given that many of the same players may still be in office a year from now.
MARX: The war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda amid fears a new administration could cause current policies to change, says retired ambassador Bill Courtney, now an adjunct senior fellow at the RAND think tank.
BILL COURTNEY: If Donald Trump were to be elected president, then there's a lot of concern in Europe and the United States that the U.S. could falter in its support. Keir Starmer's coming here at this time will help buck up support in the United States for continuing to support Ukraine no matter what comes ahead.
MARX: Britain recently suspended some weapons exports to Israel, something the U.S. has not done. But Courtney says that British position is proving popular among potential Democratic voters in the U.S. and so could just possibly prompt another policy shift in the coming months. For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in London.
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