Britain's ambassador to Washington, Dame Karen Pearce, will be asked to stay on as Donald Trump takes power ahead of a complex reshuffle of Britain's security and foreign affairs jobs in the new year.
Pearce has deep knowledge of the Republican Party and is seen as the best person to help lead a Labor government in what could be a dangerous transition from the Biden administration to the Trump administration.
Pat McFadden, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Sky News on Thursday: She has the full confidence of the UK Government and we wish her well in her current job. And I think she will be a very important interlocutor and advisor to the British government during this period of transition. ”
He added, “I can't say exactly when her term will end. She's been doing this for a few years, but she's there for now and will be there for a while, and she They are doing a really great job for our country.”
earrings Posted on X “We look forward to deepening our already deep and successful partnership as we address the challenges of the 21st century,” he said Wednesday after Trump was announced as the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
She has been based in the US since 2018, first as the United Kingdom's special envoy to the United Nations in New York, before being appointed ambassador to Washington in 2020.
If Kamala Harris wins, one of three Labor foreign policy experts – Peter Mandelson, David Miliband or Valerie Amos – could be invited to the post. There was also speculation. However, consideration is likely to be given to whether a Labor Party figure would be the best person to talk to the Trump campaign.
However, Washington's appointment is closely linked to future vacancies in the posts of permanent secretary and national security adviser at the Foreign Office, and potentially Britain's ambassador to the United Nations.
Philip Burton has announced that he will step down as permanent secretary, and Pearce could take up the post, although Matthew Rycroft, former permanent secretary at the Department for International Development and former British ambassador to the United Nations, has also been named. It is listed.
The current UN special envoy, Barbara Woodward, is a former ambassador to China and is seen as a strong candidate to become the president's new national security adviser. The post of Chief Cabinet Secretary is also vacant.
Lord Mandelson is seeking to become chancellor of the University of Oxford, and it is said that he may become an ambassador at the same time.
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The Foreign Office is hopeful that Foreign Secretary David Lammy's past abuse of Mr Trump, highlighted by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday, will not affect the so-called special relationship.
Six years ago, Mr. Lamy called President Trump a “misogynist, neo-Nazi-sympathetic sociopath” and “a grave threat to the international order.”
But his team has made connections with potential Republican foreign policy experts, including a meeting with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance in Munich this year and a meeting with former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien. It emphasizes the efforts he has made to achieve this goal. He also spoke at the Hudson Institute think tank, emphasizing his Christian roots.
An even more serious risk for the UK is becoming drawn into a tariff war between the EU and the US. Jeremy Shapiro, an expert on US-EU relations at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there was a “deep cultural divide between Labor and the Trump campaign”.
“Many European leaders will talk about bilateralism and flattery, but I can't say that will get them anything,” he predicted. He said the trade deficit between the United States and other countries would be the issue most likely to energize President Trump in any relationship.
