President-elect Donald Trump has nominated businessman Warren Stephens to function America’s ambassador to the UK.
“Warren has all the time dreamed of serving the USA full time,” Trump stated in a press release on Fact Social. “I’m thrilled that he’ll now have that chance as the highest diplomat, representing the USA to one among America’s most cherished and beloved allies.”
Stephens, who’s CEO of personal Arkansas-based funding financial institution Stephens Inc, donated thousands and thousands to Trump’s re-election marketing campaign this 12 months.
If his nomination is profitable, Stephens will assist to keep up the so-called “particular relationship” between the US and the UK.
The 2 international locations preserve shut army, intelligence, and cultural ties.
Trump has vowed to transform the US’ relationships overseas, vowing to implement an “America-first” ethos to international coverage.
The position of US ambassador to the UK is among the most coveted diplomatic positions, and presidents have been recognized to bestow the position to distinguished backers.
Throughout his first time period in workplace, Trump appointed Woody Johnson, a high Republican donor and proprietor of the American soccer workforce the New York Jets, as UK ambassador.
Barack Obama selected long-time Democratic Occasion fundraiser and lawyer Louis Susman as his first emissary to the UK – or the Court docket of St James.
Stephens didn’t all the time again Trump’s candidacies, nonetheless. In 2016, when Trump first ran for president, Stephens donated about $4m (£3.1m) to political teams that sought to cease Trump’s ascent, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on the time.
The funding banker additionally donated over $2m to a political motion committee that supported former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley as she unsuccessfully ran for president in 2024, the marketing campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets discovered.
When Trump in the end triumphed on this 12 months’s Republican presidential main, nonetheless, Stephens threw his help behind him. Federal marketing campaign finance information present he additionally donated to Republican teams and US Senate candidates this 12 months.
In a press release, Stephens stated he was honoured by the nomination.
“I’ve expressed to President Trump that I might be extraordinarily proud to serve our nation and his administration, working to implement the President’s agenda and additional strengthen the long-standing alliance between the USA and the UK,” he stated.
He and his spouse additionally preserve a philanthropic organisation, the Harriet and Warren Stephens Household Basis, which has donated to the Arkansas Museum of Advantageous Arts, the College of Mississippi, and the Episcopal Collegiate College in Little Rock.
