In 2019, the UK ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch, resigned after the Mail on Sunday had published an internal memorandum of his assessing D. Trump, to which the US President had reacted with furious, personal tweets. Last night, I finished Darroch’s fascinating memoir. Thread. To cut a long story short, Darroch lost his job after over 40 years of distinguished service in the FCO for doing his job. He told his government what he made of Trump, someone leaked it, and the erratic president attacked him publicly in a way that made his position untenable./2

These are hugely important days for U.K. diplomacy. One might even call it a key moment in the gradual 'great normalisation' of U.K. post-Brexit &post-Covid foreign policy in Europe that started with the Russian attack on #Ukraine . 1/ It was not so very long ago, in 2019, when UK-EU acrimony was at its peak, that the U.K. government (then under @BorisJohnson ) positively shunned the #MunichSecurityConference . Boosterish calls for Global Britain were everywhere, but actual dialogue with allies was not./2

The prospect of a UK-EU deal over the NIP is of overwhelming importance for the UK’s standing in Europe (as in, the place, not just the institution). If agreement is found &accepted domestically in the U.K., this paves the way for a normalisation of the relationship and would /1 confirm the impression on the continent that the tide is turning in 🇬🇧 &that the worst populist days are behind us. It would help to make even those countries most upset about Brexit (🇩🇪&🇫🇷) accept that the U.K. remains a key *European* partner they can do business with./2

My @faznet analysis of the British perception of Germany’s foreign&security policy since Russia invaded 🇺🇦 is based on conversations with security experts, academics& government officials. There is considerable interest in London in the way 🇩🇪 is changing.
faz.net/aktuell/politi… London was surprised by @Bundeskanzler ‘s Zeitenwende speech in February 2022, but the initial reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The speech seemed to announce a real change which could result in Germany stopping to be a weak link in the chain of the European security order./2