How the United States Exerts Power Over the UK
The US’s record of intervening in the politics of Global South countries is well known. But in recent decades, US intelligence agencies have meddled even in the affairs of staunch ally the UK, and the US military maintains a major presence in the country.
President Barack Obama speaks at the ‘Town Hall’ discussion with British youth at the Royal Horticultural Halls on April 23, 2016 in London, England. (Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty Images)
Four years after my book The Racket was first published, I started my own media outlet with historian and journalist Mark Curtis. It was a departure from what I had focused on before — the consequences of US imperialism around the world — because this new publication, Declassified UK, would cover British foreign policy.
Britain handed the mantle of world domination to the United States after World War II, and the received history is that it then retired from any kind of imperial role. I found out pretty quickly at Declassified that this was a misunderstanding. The truth is the empire never died. Britain merely became a “junior partner” to the US hegemon.
London’s adjunct status did not mean it was insignificant, however. The City of London’s role as the world’s financial capital that spreads neoliberalism around the world and the UK’s vast network of military bases, alongside its corporate giants like BP and BAE Systems, showed Britain still served a critical imperial role for its senior partner.
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