3 min read16 September
Exclusive: The British ambassador requested help from the Trump White House on dealing with the radical right in the UK, PoliticsHome understands.
Days before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, the British Ambassador to the US, Christian Turner, met with State Department officials to discuss Burnham’s plans for power.
According to sources familiar, British officials asked State Department Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers about how to combat the radical right, highlighting her recent speeches at the Jordan Peterson-founded Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London.
Under Secretary Rogers urged Turner and the British officials to be more transparent and honest in their work, and said that doing so would help to rebuild trust.
Another proposal raised by Under Secretary Rogers was the now-abandoned Rwanda scheme, to process asylum seekers overseas. Rogers praised the plans in the context of plans to combat the radical right, though no suggestion to revive the plan was made.
The Rwanda deal cost the taxpayer £700m yet only removed four people, all of whom volunteered to leave.
Separately, PoliticsHome also understands that Rogers highlighted how the radical right had taken an interest in independent MP Rupert Lowe’s survivor-led rape gang inquiry, which he had funded via crowdsourcing. She was concerned with how he was conducting it, and called on British officials to publish government transcripts and materials related to prominent grooming gang cases, in order to lessen Lowe’s political impact. Lowe was not characterised as a member of the radical right himself during the discussion.
The Trump official also highlighted the cost of paying for transcripts of historic cases, noting that it cost Open Justice (now known as the Centre for Justice Policy) large amounts of money to release transcripts, and suggested the British government agreed to release the transcripts for free.
The government has launched an independent inquiry into grooming gangs, with legal powers to hold institutions to account.
Lowe told PoliticsHome: “The country has been undermined by a philosophy which empowers the minority (often unsound) at the expense of the majority, which is Orwellian. I would be surprised if Sarah Rogers has a view on our Independent Rape Gang Enquiry crowd-funded by over 20,000 concerned people. It was done in order to expose systemic evil, and not for political gain.”
An FCDO spokesperson said: “As close allies, UK and US officials meet regularly to discuss shared priorities.
“We are committed to ensuring that our trade and security continues to deliver real benefits for hardworking people on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The State Department was contacted for comment.
