Former top British diplomat Peter Ricketts has claimed that France and Germany will soon both overtake London in importance for the United States due to the impact of Brexit on the UK’s international standing.
Ricketts, the former Ambassador to Paris and NATO told Politico that Britain is no longer the key European partner in the eyes of America — particularly if Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden is elected president next month.
“When Biden looks towards Europe, he will see Paris and Berlin more as the center of gravity of what’s really important for America in Europe, both economically and in security terms, and Britain will be seen rather as an outlier, rather outside the mainstream of Europe,” he said.
“There will continue to be an important bilateral relationship on defense and security of course, but in other areas, Britain will not have the same prominence it has been used to having in Washington because, frankly, Britain is less useful to the US administration,” he added.
Ricketts said a Biden victory in the US presidential election on November 3 will also usher in a “much less confrontational, more courteous and consultative style” towards Washington's international partners. But, he said that this would not make the UK-US relationship any easier.
Many in Europe would be “encouraged” if Biden wins, Ricketts said, and thus be “eager to establish new relations” with the Biden White House, with Brexit taking a back seat as far as the UK’s European partners are concerned.
The EU and the UK are currently engaged in intensive Brexit talks. Both sides hope a trade deal can be struck in the next two to three weeks, which can then be ratified in time for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.
Should Biden win the election next week, Rickets believes that the UK British government would face the challenge of building relations with Biden’s team, who view Brexit as a risk to both Europe and Britain’s stability.
The UK must prepare for a Biden administration that keeps a particularly close eye on how Brexit affects Ireland, given the Irish influence in the Democratic party and Biden’s own Irish background. Biden’s administration will prioritize trade with the EU just as the U.K. “has put itself out of an influential position in Europe,” Ricketts said.
Joe Biden tweeted last month that “the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland” cannot become “a casualty of Brexit.”
