LONDON — Donald Trump is badly bruised after this week’s U.S. midterm elections trouncing — but Britain’s diplomatic corps needs to avoid looking like it’s going all-in on the jubilant Democrats. That’s the advice of Ed Roman, the former director of communications at the British Embassy in Washington. He spent five years on the embassy’s senior leadership team, serving during the Biden and second Trump administrations.
It gave him a front row seat as diplomats adjusted to a radical change in U.S. political direction — a task they now face again. In his first podcast interview since leaving the civil service a month ago, Roman tells POLITICO’s Westminster Insider that British diplomats need to show they can cultivate sophisticated ties with Trump’s possible successors — without provoking the ire of the current White House incumbent. The British Embassy has, he says, already been doing its homework, tracking potential Democratic Party contenders throughout the year in anticipation of a wave.
But there’s stiff global competition to build those links first. In addition to the embassy in D.C., Britain uses its eight U.S. consulates — strategically placed across the country — to help it identify rising politicians outside Washington. As Roman puts it: “Real politics in America happens in America, out in the states, out in the districts.
Knowing those Senate hopefuls ahead of time is always the name of the game.” Roman worked under former British Ambassador Karen Pierce, whose team invested considerable effort in cultivating relationships with Trump’s circle during the Biden administration. Roman believes that work paid “dividends” for Britain in the years that followed, including in landing a U.K.-U.S. trade deal as Trump slapped tariffs on a host of allies. But he cautions that the next president might not seem as obvious as Trump — who has had an iron grip on his party for years — did back then.
It’s vital to build diplomatic relationships with a broad field — including other presidential hopefuls and figures who might end up in a future Cabinet, White House or national security team. And very often they’re the people that are useful to you as an embassy,” he says. It’s important not to provoke Trump’s ire by making him feel British diplomacy is already moving on.
But Roman argues that embassies must also be prepared to defend their right to engage opposition politicians. He points to Trump officials openly engaging with British politicians across party lines. There is, however, a big difference between quietly cultivating a future president and publicly advertising the fact.
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