A new foundation for the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom has been proposed by Ambassador Peter Mandelson, one built not on shared history, but on shared technological destiny. His speech called for rebooting the alliance by placing artificial intelligence and quantum computing at its very heart.
Mandelson argued that while the historical and security ties remain important, the central challenge of the 21st century is the technological competition with China. To meet this challenge, he envisioned a partnership so integrated that it would be as significant as the security pact forged between Roosevelt and Churchill during World War II.
This future-focused alliance would also extend to energy and resources, with collaboration on cheap nuclear power to fuel the AI revolution and joint efforts to secure supply chains for rare-earth minerals. It represents a comprehensive vision for aligning the two nations’ economic and security interests for decades to come.
The ambassador’s praise for Donald Trump was presented as a necessary step to realize this vision. He portrayed Trump as the kind of bold, forward-looking leader required to launch such a transformative project, suggesting that a new kind of special relationship requires a new kind of leadership to champion it.