The foreign policy establishment in London secretly lives in fear of a “Mad Men” meme. It shows Jon Hamm as Don Draper in an elevator with a junior colleague who says, “I feel bad for you.” The advertising guru, blank-faced, replies, “I don’t think about you at all.”

There is an abiding fear that the United Kingdom is that junior colleague. The so-called “special relationship” with the United States is an ever-present concern, constantly being dissected and analyzed, but the anxiety always lurks in the background that the decision-makers in Washington do not think about Britain at all.

There was some reassurance for Brits recently. The U.S. ambassador in London, Jane Hartley, interviewed on Politico’s Power Play podcast, said that the special relationship was “not just special” but “essential” to America. She went on to say that whether the current government is reelected in July’s general election or, as widely anticipated, the opposition Labour Party wins, she expects continuity in trans-Atlantic relations.

Hartley is a diplomat, and it is part of her role to flatter her hosts. Her words should not be wholly dismissed, but they are a useful starting point for a different perspective on the special relationship. Politicians and officials in London should conduct a thought experiment: What does the U.S. need from Britain in foreign policy terms?

There is a brutal reality to be faced: The United States, despite all the geopolitical change of recent years, remains the only true superpower and can if necessary act alone and do what it likes.........

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