Special Relationship

The Special Relationship, a term used to describe relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), first came into popular usage following a 1946 speech by former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Among major world powers, the military co-operation, intelligence sharing, and trade between the UK and US has been described as "unparalleled". Both have been close allies in a number of 20th and 21st century conflicts including World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the war on terror.

The personal close relationships between UK and US heads of government, including that between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and later between Tony Blair and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have been cited as popular evidence of the special relationship. At the diplomatic level, characteristics include recurring public representations of the relationship as "special", frequent and high-profile political visits and extensive information exchange at the diplomatic working level.

Some deny the existence of a "special relationship" and call it a myth. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, US president Dwight Eisenhower threatened to bankrupt the pound sterling due to Britain's invasion of Egypt. Thatcher privately opposed the 1983 US invasion of Grenada, and Reagan unsuccessfully initially pressured against the 1982 Falklands War and refused to offer US military support to the UK. Former US President Barack Obama described German Chancellor Angela Merkel as his "closest international partner", while incumbent US President Donald Trump described the relationship in 2026 as "not what it was [before]", following the UK's initial response to US strikes on Iran. Others have argued that the UK is either now or becoming a vassal or client state of the US, sometimes being referred to as the 51st state of the US.