From Windsor Castle to the battlefield, the US-UK special relationship is alive and unbreakable, writes Seb Gorka

From the parade inspection, the Red Arrows fly-by and the gilt beauty of a State Dinner at Windsor Castle.

But it’s not about the appearances, the pomp and circumstance. It’s about the substance.

The King spoke of our shared commitment to independence and liberty. President Trump spoke of the pride in the bust of Churchill he prominently displays in the most powerful room in the world, the Oval Office, a tangible marker of our two countries having together “done more for humanity” than any other two nations on Earth.

From waging an international war on the slave trade to standing up to and vanquishing the might of the Third Reich and the Axis powers.

We have our differences, of course, the most obvious one at the current time being our differing attitudes to Freedom of Speech, especially as practiced online.

Given that our 1st Amendment to the US Constitutional is a right we value so very dearly, the idea that a free citizen should find themselves in trouble with the authorities for expressing an opinion is anathema, and our Vice President has been prepared to note so openly.

But surely that’s the point, isn’t it?

As I noted on air to LBC’s own Iain Dale just moments after the King and President Trump had offered their toasts, true friends rarely if ever agree on everything. Especially politics!

But a friendship is special and real only if you can speak truthfully to one another. Should that prerequisite be absent, it’s not a real friendship, let alone a “special” one.

If I may qualify the ties that bind us across the Atlantic from my specific perch for a moment, I think we can rekindle a shared confidence in our connection.

Now as a kid who grew up in West London in the 70s and 80s, I was of course enthralled with the original men in black, the warriors of the SAS Regiment, especially after Operation Nimrod, the Iranian Embassy siege which catapulted the ‘Tip Toe Boys’ to global fame.

But never, did I ever in my wildest dreams expect that one day, I would be flying to Hereford on an SAS helicopter as Counterterrorism Chief for the most consequential President of the modern age, to discuss how our two nations would together bring ultimate justice to Jihadi terrorists who threaten both the United Kingdom and the United States.

The point here is not one grown man’s boyhood dreams coming true. The point it what I experienced when I meet the men of Britain’s most elite fighting unit.

From the self-effacing and most gracious Commander himself, to the young officers who briefed my team on SAS operations around the world, or to the NCO and his working dog who had just apprehended the Iranian terrorist plotting to kill the innocent Brits, they were all cut from the same cloth are as the quiet professionals I am privileged to be associated within the White House and across US forces.

Side by side in Tactical Command Centers or on the hellscape battlefields of foreign lands, these operators are united by one central and unwavering belief: our countries represent the ancient and modern pillars of the Western World and we will fight side by side to rout and vanquish our common foes.

So whether it’s inspecting the troops on the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle, toasting our two nations over the most spectacular royal repast, or as comrades in battle against shared deadly enemies, yes, our relationship remains special.

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Sebastian Gorka serves as Deputy Assistant to President Trump and his Senior Director for Counterterrorism in the US National Security Council

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