National Politics

The reality behind Sir Kim Darroch

The conversation around Sir Kim Darroch has been hijacked by alternative perceptions of reality. “Stand up to bullies”, “protect your men”, “it’s Trump’s fault”, they say… 

These are built on the false notion that our special partnership with USA is in any way equal. It is not, and it is about time the chattering class understood that. 

Sir Kim Darroch was doing his job as a renowned diplomat by reporting his concerns in private; however, the reputation of his office was compromised if not damaged by the leaking of these vital cables. The mistrust created by the leaking, and the damaged relationship between Sir Kim Darroch and the Whitehouse rendered his position untenable, even if the leaking was not his fault. An ambassador needs to have access to the Whitehouse. With Sir Kim Darroch and the US President on bad terms, a civil working relationship is no longer possible, and certainly not with the assured meddling by the press.

The idea that this resembles the Suez crisis, or is worth damaging our relationship with the US at a time of great constitutional change, is ridiculous, to say the least. We are the fifth largest economy in the world, and amongst the five permanent members of the security council in the United Nations. However, this does not make our relationship with America an equal one—no matter how much we may pretend otherwise. We cannot afford to cut off friendships for the sake of one crime. We have to accept, as Sir Kim Darroch did, that the whilst the leaker was successful this time, and as a country we must find and arrest the criminal behind this mess and avoid a precedent being set for the future. 

Continuously placing the blame on the Trump administration is incredibly ignorant.  The fault comes from home, from someone who had access to that information, and leaked it. The more time we spend fighting over whether Trump was to blame, the less we can concentrate on domestic issues, and of course, our largest challenge at present—Brexit. 

Sir Kim Darroch was right about one thing, Trump’s re-election is an extremely possible outcome. So, let us send in an ambassador who can tolerate the current administration and maintain a working relationship with the Whitehouse, and offer one of our finest diplomats, Sir Kim Darroch, a different diplomatic position—one he would be able to carry out under the present circumstances.

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