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It is a mark of the singularity of the United States that the inauguration of its President is an event awaited worldwide. It is not just a fresh start for the States, but, certainly in a

foreign policy sense, something of a fresh start for the world, from multilateral agreements to conflict hotspots, potential and real. The UK, the EU and many others anticipate it warmly;

China, Russia, Iran and others more warily. On the back of recent events, perhaps the level of anticipation of Joe Biden’s ceremony eclipses many. I was the UK’s Minister for North America

between 2010-2013, under Prime Minister David Cameron and William Hague at the Foreign Office, so I take more than a passing interest. Like many of us, my roots and contacts there are deeper

than the political, beginning as a soccer coach at Camp Greylock in Massachusetts in 1975, making friends there with whom I’m still in touch. I was on the US Distinguished Visitor Programme

for a month in 1986, and have returned many times since. As Minister I saw the depth of the relationship between the US and the UK, and have written and spoken often of how such links were

a bulwark against anything the electoral system could throw at us, in either country. Out of office I was free to express my support in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. I had seen her as Secretary

of State, both in public and private; she possessed the skills and experience to do the job as President. I had no illusions about Donald Trump. I have no need to search my archive to erase

paeans of praise which would now seem unfortunate. In the words of the great British political observer Terry Thomas, he was an “absolute shower” when he spoke at his own inauguration in

2017, and after that it was downhill all the way. But my belief held. Whatever Trump’s damaging and corrosive legacy in the US, it has not affected the relationship between our two nations.

Long years in Parliament and Government have also taught me to be wary of “fresh starts”. They are not always as fresh as they seem. Though rarely spoken of during elections, the “hidden

agenda” of what a new government has to retain from its opponents’ legacy is of as much interest as what must be changed. So in foreign policy terms, I am anxious to see how this is borne

out. While some excellent appointments have been made in the State Department and elsewhere, including a number of colleagues with whom I worked, especially in the Middle East during the

Obama administrations, no one believes it is 2016 again. The world is different. The US has forged policy in the past few years, but also been a bystander as events unfolded, and the new

administration knows there are elements of 2008-2016 that it will want to revise going forward. My main contention with recent US foreign policy in the Middle East is that I do not think it

solved anything, and leaves many messy elements in the region. The withdrawal of troops opens as many doors as it closes; “maximum pressure” on Iran has seen its belligerence and nuclear

activity increase, and the Abraham Accords, whilst positive in the Gulf Arab recognition of Israel, have left the Palestinian issue unresolved and open to exploitation. Nothing is actually

sorted. Having failed to work with others elsewhere, US foreign policy requires a fresh start, but now other capitals must take the chance of a fresh start too. As President Biden said in

his speech, unity of purpose is not a matter for one, or some, but all. He was speaking domestically, but he could have orientated it towards the world. If we want to heal the man-made

crises that cry out to us from the World Food Programme to UNHCR and UNICEF, it is going to take more than America alone. However, most eyes will not be on the US abroad, but how the new

President deals with the appalling domestic legacy of division and pain left him. This follows an election Trump did not win but did his best to overturn, with a catastrophic impact on many

who accepted the lies, and do not recognise the new President. The outpouring of relief has led to the risk of expectation way over the top, but that’s hardly surprising bearing in mind

January 6 and the nightmare from which the US is emerging. I think, from Joe Biden’s record of service, the moving memorial ceremony for the Covid victims and his humble and outreaching

inauguration speech calling for unity, that while he won’t get everything right, the body politic of America he leaves will be different and better than that which he inherits, because

character counts. I hope the world takes the same opportunity. There is much to be done. Long time friends of the US wish him well. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication

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