As rumors swirl about her successor, UK ambassador to US plans to stay as long as she can – POLITICO

The impasse has given rise to speculation that Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, could even request a restart of the nomination process if he becomes Britain’s next leader.

Asked if the handover was proving particularly turbulent, Pierce deployed a tongue-in-cheek guillotine on Thursday. “The Foreign Office is very annoying about two things and two things only,” she said. “The first is that it does not reveal the content of diplomatic conversations and we do not comment on future appointments.”

But she credited congressional leaders for supporting passage of $61 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine. The package, part of a broader package of support for Israel and Taiwan, was signed by Biden this week. “The central message, which is going to give a huge psychological boost to Ukraine,” Pierce said, “is that America is behind it, and Congress is behind it, and that our willingness to support Ukraine is intact. »

“So I applaud the congressional leadership in the House and Senate on both sides…and this is a collective expression of our determination to push back against President Putin’s ambitions.”

Asked about the perception in Washington of the volatility of British politics over the past two years – including three prime ministers in the space of three months – the ambassador was diplomatic.

“There was a little ironic smile on the faces of some American politicians when we had this rapid change of prime ministers, because that’s not what you think of when you think of British politics,” he said. she thought. “On the contrary, we are thinking of something solid that has not changed much for years. But we got through it all.