Johnson – “everybody calls me Woody” – was appointed US ambassador to the UK in September 2017 and is determined to unite the nations .
Johnson is a personal friend of Trump and big believer in Churchill's "special relationship"
Johnson is a personal friend of Trump and big believer in Churchill's "special relationship"
The all-American billionaire businessman’s comments made headlines themselves this week, as a preview of the documentary showed Woody urging Brits to drop their “defeatist attitude towards Brexit” and work with him to turn it into a great opportunity.
“How can a country with this great a history, this great a language, this great a legal system and this great a presence not be successful?” he asks. “I read nothing in the papers about anybody having a positive attitude towards Brexit of the future. As an American, I’m just not used to hearing that.”
One of the world’s 500 richest people, Johnson, 71, is heir to the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, owner of the New York Jets American football team, and has a net worth of $4.2 billion, according to Bloomberg. Like Trump, he treats the political sphere as he does the corporate world.
“Woody is incredibly disarming and charming,” says Simon Gilchrist, series producer of Inside the American Embassy. “He’s a brash, confident New Yorker. People warm to that and enjoy it.”
“How can a country with this great a history, this great a language, this great a legal system and this great a presence not be successful?” he asks. “I read nothing in the papers about anybody having a positive attitude towards Brexit of the future. As an American, I’m just not used to hearing that.”
One of the world’s 500 richest people, Johnson, 71, is heir to the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, owner of the New York Jets American football team, and has a net worth of $4.2 billion, according to Bloomberg. Like Trump, he treats the political sphere as he does the corporate world.
“Woody is incredibly disarming and charming,” says Simon Gilchrist, series producer of Inside the American Embassy. “He’s a brash, confident New Yorker. People warm to that and enjoy it.”
When Trump appointed Johnson as ambassador, after he raised $18 million (£14 million) for his presidential campaign, it was with the goal of nurturing the special relationship so it can flourish after Brexit.
“Some people are sceptical of the special relationship, but there should be no scepticism,” says Johnson when we meet at the sparkling new embassy building in Nine Elms, “because the bond is there and it’s very, very powerful.”
“Some people are sceptical of the special relationship, but there should be no scepticism,” says Johnson when we meet at the sparkling new embassy building in Nine Elms, “because the bond is there and it’s very, very powerful.”
[FONT="]The £750m embassy building as an American ‘Travelodge’ on Thames, it is certainly a swisher space to wait for a visa. Every day, its 1,000 employees walk past an original copy of the Declaration of Independence from 1823 and a wall engraved with all the names of the US ambassadors to the UK, five of whom went on to be president.
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[FONT="]Marines walk through the halls carrying sidearms. And one floor houses a “little America”, where staff can buy Jif peanut butter, beef jerky, Gatorade and Oscar Mayer hot dogs. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Marines walk through the halls carrying sidearms. And one floor houses a “little America”, where staff can buy Jif peanut butter, beef jerky, Gatorade and Oscar Mayer hot dogs. [/FONT]
Jennifer Williams, press officer for the embassy, is a rodeo riding Texan who helps the ambassador with his diplomatic image
Press officer Jennifer Williams, an “immaculate Texan gal”, is an integral member of Johnson’s team. Back in Colorado, where her parents have a ranch, she keeps a horse called Shania, after Shania Twain. Before coming to London, she was posted to Lebanon, where she introduced rodeo riding through a cultural exchange. As part of her job, Williams writes measured tweets for the ambassador and trains him in diplomacy.
The staff, many of whom are new to London because of a three-year turnover rule, seem enamoured by British quirks. In particular, Eric Langer, an assistant to the ambassador who reads all correspondence from the British public, is amazed that no matter how nasty letter-writers are about Trump, they will always be polite.
“What stands out to Eric is that despite being abusive, letters will always have ‘yours sincerely’ and the person’s address at the bottom,” says Gilchrist. “It’s a very British form of complaint.”
“What stands out to Eric is that despite being abusive, letters will always have ‘yours sincerely’ and the person’s address at the bottom,” says Gilchrist. “It’s a very British form of complaint.”
Johnson, like the majority of his embassy colleagues is an anglophile. He’s fascinated by Roman British history, gets excited when invited to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and loves Winston Churchill.
“He coined the term ‘special relationship’, and he’ll be looking down on all of us and judging whether we’re doing a good job,” says Johnson, excitedly pointing to the portrait of Churchill that hangs in his office.
“He coined the term ‘special relationship’, and he’ll be looking down on all of us and judging whether we’re doing a good job,” says Johnson, excitedly pointing to the portrait of Churchill that hangs in his office.
Gilchrist explains, “Woody identifies with Churchill for embodying that bulldog spirit.” Over the past year, the producer has seen Johnson adopt this style himself.
“He’s in football coach mode – ‘Come on Britain, get back into the game’ – that kind of thing,” says Gilchrist.
Earlier this year, his cameras captured Johnson inviting British entrepreneurs to the embassy to extoll the virtues of Anglo-American trade.
“There’s no better time to be in the US, the US is exploding,” says Woody, to a room full of wide-eyed business owners. “You, all you guys, can come up with something new, make a billion dollars each and call it a day.
“He’s in football coach mode – ‘Come on Britain, get back into the game’ – that kind of thing,” says Gilchrist.
Earlier this year, his cameras captured Johnson inviting British entrepreneurs to the embassy to extoll the virtues of Anglo-American trade.
“There’s no better time to be in the US, the US is exploding,” says Woody, to a room full of wide-eyed business owners. “You, all you guys, can come up with something new, make a billion dollars each and call it a day.
“You’re going to grow your businesses, you’re going to make a lot of money, and you’re going to employ Americans. And we’ll all be proud of you.”
As upbeat as the embassy staff are about maintaining the special relationship and thawing the British attitude towards Trump, there is one foreign policy item that does get them down: chlorinated chicken.
“It genuinely upsets them,” says Gilchrist. “All of the Americans in the embassy take it personally how down we’ve been on their chlorinated chicken. They think it’s really good chicken.
“People stop you and say, ‘When you were in America, did you eat the chicken? How did it taste?’”
As upbeat as the embassy staff are about maintaining the special relationship and thawing the British attitude towards Trump, there is one foreign policy item that does get them down: chlorinated chicken.
“It genuinely upsets them,” says Gilchrist. “All of the Americans in the embassy take it personally how down we’ve been on their chlorinated chicken. They think it’s really good chicken.
“People stop you and say, ‘When you were in America, did you eat the chicken? How did it taste?’”
Expect poultry PR to feature heavily on Woody’s to-do list for the next year, then – nestled somewhere just below Brexit.
w-thumbs!^
