May: UK and U.S. Can ‘Lead Together Again’ Thanks to Brexit and Trump

Brexit, and the election of Donald J. Trump as President, offer Britain and the U.S. the opportunity to “rediscover our confidence” and “lead together again”, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on her visit to the U.S.

Addressing the annual congressional Republican Retreat in Philadelphia this afternoon, May will call on the U.S. and UK to “renew the special relationship” now that President Trump is in the White House, The Telegraph has reported.

Drawing parallels between Trump’s election and Brexit, May will say that both represent an opportunity to “renew” the U.S. and Britain.

“The United Kingdom is by instinct and history a great, global nation that recognises its responsibilities to the world,” she will say.

“And as we end our membership of the European Union – as the British people voted with determination and quiet resolve to do last year – we have the opportunity to reassert our belief in a confident, sovereign and global Britain, ready to build relationships with old friends and new allies alike.

“So as we rediscover our confidence together, as you renew your nation just as we renew ours, we have the opportunity – indeed the responsibility – to renew the special relationship for this new age. We have the opportunity to lead, together, again.”

May will add that developing a stronger special relationship is “important not only to Britain and the U.S. but to the world”, Downing Street said.

Fielding a question from the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday on whether she would raise “the issue” of the President’s “treatment of women” when they sit down together on Friday, May said that some of his rhetoric had been “unacceptable”, but that it would not be a priority during the meeting.

“I will be talking to Donald Trump about the issues that we share, about how we can build on the special relationship,” she said. “It’s the special relationship that also enables us to say when we do find things unacceptable.”

She added: “Whenever there is something that I find unacceptable I won’t be afraid to say that to Donald Trump.”

However, Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., has dismissed the notion that May will try to “mentor” the President. Rather, he said, a friendship similar to that enjoyed between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan was possible. “I think there is every prospect that they can strike up an extremely close relationship,” he noted.

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