America at a Crossroads – The 2020 Elections & the Special Relationship

16th September, 2020 – 5:00pm – 6:30pm (BST)

As the United States gears up to vote in November’s Presidential elections, the United Kingdom is watching on intently. The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 has challenged the received wisdom on America’s global role, and his unique approach to foreign policy has challenged the future of the rules-based international order and the institutions intended to uphold it.

In the midst of the devastating Covid-19, and with relations between the United States and China at an historical turning point, this election carries an additional degree of significance for Britain and our Western allies.

This event – a follow-up from our lively debate on the future of the ‘Special Relationship’ at the start of the year – discussed the domestic factors at play in the 2020 election, the ‘mood music’ of the campaign, and just what the implications of various election outcomes mean for Britain, the special relationship, and the future of American foreign policy.

You can register for the event here.

  • Sarah Elliott is Chair of Republicans Overseas UK, representing Republican-American expatriates in the UK. She previously served as Managing Director of the American European Business Association, and has been a Republican commentator and campaigner in both London and Washington, D.C.
  • Matthew L. McGrath is Managing Director of Emissary Holdings, a London-based global firm advising investors on political risks and disputes. He was previously Advisor to the Albright Stonebridge Group, a Washington-based global strategy and commercial diplomacy firm, and a former staffer to Vice President Joe Biden.
  • Kate Andrews is the Spectator’s Economics Correspondent. She previously worked as Associate Director at the UK’s leading free market think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and was a former staffer on the Romney for President and Lynda McMahon for Senate campaigns.
  • Joseph C. Sternberg is a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, where he writes the Political Economics column. His areas of focus include macroeconomics, monetary and trade policies, and European politics. He is the author of The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials’ Economic Future (New York: PublicAffairs, 2019), examining the consequences of the Great Recession.
  • Nicky Woolf is a journalist, who writes about American and British politics, technology and social issues. He was previously the Launch Editor of the New Statesman America, a contributing editor to the New Statesman, and has written for The Guardian.
  • Sophia Gaston (Chair) is Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. A social and political researcher specialising in public opinion, her research particularly explores populism, nationalism and the rise of anti-establishment movements, as well as broader threats to governance in Western nations.
Matt Gillow
matt.gillow@bfpg.co.uk

Matt is the Communications & Events Manager at the British Foreign Policy Group.