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The Brits are coming. As the Government prepares to issue vaccination passports for overseas travel, Europe is readying itself for the return of British holidaymakers this summer. While the

EU authorities are still cautious, perhaps smarting from their self-inflicted chaos over vaccine supplies, Continental nation states are keeping a close eye on the UK figures. With almost

half the adult population having received one jab and one in five having had two, Britain is far ahead of the rest of Europe. Most countries are desperate to revive tourism; for once, the

Brits are at the front of the queue. There is one glaring exception to this welcoming attitude: the United States. For reasons which can only be surmised, the State Department has added the

UK to its “do not travel” list of more than 100 countries with “a very high level of Covid-19”. Confusingly, the US authorities say that its travel ban on more than 80 per cent of world

“does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country”. So the fact that the British are significantly better protected against acquiring or spreading infection

than Americans is, apparently, irrelevant to the travel advice.  Nor does the level of official transparency seem to matter — otherwise China would not be considered safer than the UK.

Evidence from Chile, which has been using the main Chinese vaccine, suggests that a first dose is only 16 per cent effective. A Chinese official who admitted this has been silenced. Yet the

Biden Administration is happy to accept Beijing’s assurances that China has virtually suppressed Covid at face value. The State Department’s decision to extend its travel ban makes no sense,

at least as far as Britain is concerned. The prohibition seems to be based on advice from another part of the US bureaucracy, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Evidently

nobody told the latter about plans for a US-UK corridor, which airlines had been expecting to be approved in time for the summer vacation season. The air bridge was meant to be one of the

benefits of rapid vaccination programmes on both sides of the Atlantic. This week President Biden announced that all adults could now apply for their first Covid jab; some 40 per cent of

Americans have already received one. The delay in reopening transatlantic travel is perhaps more serious for the UK than for the US, but it is frustrating for millions on both sides of the

pond. Many families have been divided by the pandemic for well over a year. Nor is this just about tourism: the revival of the global economy will be significantly slower if America

quarantines itself for longer than necessary. The isolationist tendency to pull up the drawbridge whenever there is trouble abroad is deeply rooted in the American psyche. The same

overreaction by the State Department has been seen before after terrorist attacks. It is understandable but irrational — and perhaps hypocritical, too. After all, US officials have been

globetrotting throughout the pandemic. John Kerry, the Biden Administration’s “climate ambassador” is engaged in non-stop shuttle diplomacy, while this week the US Ambassador in Moscow, John

Sullivan, has been recalled “for consultations” as a consequence of a diplomatic spat. Covid is by no means under control in Russia and the authorities there have lied consistently about

the level of deaths. Perhaps Ambassador Sullivan has been inoculated, but the impression is that one rule applies to State Department officials and another to everyone else.  This is an

opportunity for Boris Johnson to test the warmth of his relationship with Joe Biden. The Prime Minister was the first European leader to receive a phone call from the incoming President. A

lot of nonsense was talked about Johnson being the American Trump; the truth is that all British PMs make it their business to get on well with whoever occupies the White House. Biden knows

that, just as he knows that the Anglo-American relationship really is special in ways that cannot be quantified but matter to both. The fact that Jacinda Aherne, the Prime Minister of New

Zealand, has decided to snub Washington, by giving priority to her relationship with China over the “Five Eyes” intelligence community, underlines the uniqueness of America’s bond with

Britain.  It is now incumbent on the Prime Minister to try to persuade the President to intervene. Downing Street should be preparing a detailed case to justify a special US-UK air corridor

at the latest by the end of June, when most Covid restrictions will have been lifted here. The British have shown the world how a large and almost uniquely open economy can make itself safe

to visit. As the addition of India to the red list this week shows, we are still taking tough decisions where a possible risk of infectious new variants has been identified. Belatedly, the

Government is not only ready to offer free vaccine passports but considering the provision of free Covid tests to British travellers because the present regime is prohibitively expensive.

The British, like their American cousins, have earned their summer break this year. It would be a great pity if the PM cannot induce POTUS to reconsider. Boris should get on the blower to

Joe without delay. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than

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