A History Lesson

Someone on the BBC recently likened the meeting between the Queen and Donald Trump (QDT) to the ‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’ (FCG) meeting of Henry VIII with the French King Francis I in 1520.

It is to be hoped that the person who made this comparison was just a typical, under researched BBC hack and not a historian because there are very few similarities between the meetings, very few indeed. Maybe the only one is that the people involved come from different countries.

Here is a list of differences, some of no current import but others which do matter given the the current goings on in Britain:

• FCG was the meeting of two rulers, capable of driving the policies of each country. But, only one of the over-indulged QDT participants is a decision maker, the other being merely a well-rewarded rubber stamper.

• England and France, in 1520, were superpowers of the day with potentially equal power. This cannot be said of the UK and the USA today, despite what Tories tell us. The UK is currently, and in danger of becoming ever more, like the coward shaking a fist from behind the American bully in terms of global power.

• The ‘visitor’, Henry, spent vast sums of money on an enormous pavilion and other excesses to impress his host. I don’t know how much The Donald is spending but the whole farrago is costing us £25-40m, for little return.

• Henry, being a bit of a ‘Trump’ himself, overturned the rules and challenged Philip to a wrestling match. This turned sour when Henry lost. Given Trump’s apparent support for Brexit, this could be something of an omen.
  

There has been much servile talk of how successful the visit was, claiming that Donald and his creepy, unelected but influential family being awed by the Royal Family to the extent that the ‘Special Relationship’ has been enhanced. It seems more likely that he was thinking ‘I’m so great, look how these Royals treat me’.

The trouble is that ‘special’ does not mean ‘good’, it only means ‘distinct or particular’ and the only way our relationship with America, especially as it is governed now, is ‘special’ is in how the higher echelons of the countries work together in promoting business at the expense of citizens, increasing their wealth on both sides of the Atlantic.

Always remember, there is a price to pay for everything American, even the help offered to the UK after WW II, part of the Marshall Plan, wasn’t an altruistic gift and took 61 years to pay off.

Speaking of the Marshall Plan, who can forget that Daniel Kawczynki, Shrewsbury’s star MP claimed, and continued to claim for some time after being corrected, that the UK had no help from the Plan when we were in fact the largest beneficiary? DK is supporting loveable Boris as leader in the Tory leadership race; it’s nice to know that his knowledge and judgement are in good working order, witness his tussle with Emma Barnett this week. This brings us nicely to the really significant points of the visit and its associated meetings, one of them seeming to have been free publicity for Boris Johnson in his quest to be leader of the Tories and therefore our very unelected Prime Minister, a contest which is warming up nicely right now.

Of course, it’s other, more long-lasting intentions were to butter up The Donald and to influence the outcome of Brexit in general. America hopes to take advantage of us should it proceed as a ‘hard’ version, led by ideologues such as Boris J, Iain Duncan-Smith – now in charge of BJ’s ‘team’ - and another local Tory MP, Owen Paterson, all of whom we know Trump met or communicated with while he was here. The UK has historically run a trade surplus with America and wouldn’t Trump just love to change that around?

This ‘special’ relationship needs serious examination as, even after the debacle of the Iraq war with its lies and deceit, it is still presented as a good thing. Even as I write, another version of the Iraq situation is being played out with Iran with, potentially, a worse outcome and the response of our Foreign Secretary is to show no resistance or scepticism of the American position. By the way and as any reader will know, this same person is Johnson’s rival in the Tory/PM leadership race, what an embarrassment of riches!

America has been involved in war more or less continuously for the last 70 years, has invaded or interfered in dozens of countries. Here are just some of the characteristics of their motives, methods and their complete lack of morality:

• The CIA carries out secret operations to undermine governments they don’t like.

• They are prepared to see ordinary people suffer to achieve their ends.

• They are increasingly blatant in their reasons for their ventures.

• They are utterly ruthless and the ‘special relationship’ means nothing to them.

• They care nothing for their own people, the poor ones that is.

Rather than add to this very incomplete list I will let Heathcote Williams sum up The Absolute State of The States powerfully and poetically:

The business of America is business, And its number one business is war. It uses Hollywood to peddle its values To turn the world into its whore.

But few of its citizens have the guts to say boo. Otherwise they’d be refusing to pay taxes. So, like their own media, they back war after war, And they’re turning the world into ashes.

The current government is on the reactionary side but no American government for years has been anything less than super-capitalist, with the consequent effects on the environment, poor people (all over the world) and life in general! Many, many of its citizens are rational, humane people but many, many others less and lesser so.

The book ‘1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates’, to give its full title for an enjoyable change, was awfully prescient when, in 1930, it concluded with this terrifying sentence:

The trouble is that 'special' does not mean 'good'...

— Bob, your uncle