Author: Patrick Wintour

Something seismic has changed in the US-British relationship that will require the UK to look elsewhere for allies and accept that deals such as cooperation over the British nuclear deterrent are now in question, a former British ambassador to Washington has said. Sir David Manning told a Lords select committee on international relations that something…

Two British nationals have been arrested in Iran and given access to the UK ambassador, Hugo Shorter, according to reports. State media published photographs purportedly showing Shorter meeting two British “national security” suspects at the general and revolutionary prosecutor’s office in Kerman province, about 500 miles south-east of Tehran. The published photo shows that the…

Donald Trump has said he wants a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Iran and denied he wanted to blow Iran to smithereens, describing such reports as “greatly exaggerated”. But he said it was essential that Iran did not have a nuclear weapon, adding “we should start working on it immediately”. His remarks on his social…

For some months, Lord Mandelson had been going round London suggesting he had no desire to be appointed to the role of Washington ambassador, saying he would rather not become a hotel manager so late in his career. His feigned lack of interest in shepherding a succession of middle-rank ministers through the British embassy, a…