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Does he feel he has evolved in his first year? ‘You know, I don’t know about “evolved”. I have never done anything like this before,’ he says. ‘I worked for President Reagan for six years [as special assistant and then director of presidential personnel], and I interviewed a lot of potential ambassadors — so I had some strong feelings about it. But I love this job. You’re our best friend and best ally in the world. I’ve been greeted with overwhelming hospitality here. Have I been asked tough questions? Yes. Have I had people disagree with me? Yes. But in general people are interested in the United States. They’re curious about the United States. They have this love for our culture.’
Yet even the most ardent Atlanticist must admit that the relationship has been traumatised in recent weeks by the case of the NatWest Three and the tardiness of the US Congress in ratifying the extradition treaty of 2003, which was passed into law in this country two years ago. Mr Tuttle does not conceal his personal disappointment and his sympathy with those in this country who object deeply to the imbalance.
‘I would have hoped to have sat here today and said one of my major accomplishments in the first year is the passage of that treaty, because I have worked extremely hard [on it]. I talked to people at the State Department, at the White House, talked to Senator Lugar [chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee], other people on the Hill. So we’ve really tried and I remain optimistic that it hopefully will be ratified by the Senate in the last quarter of this year or at some time next year.’
I remind the Ambassador of a speech he made in March in which he described British business as an ‘important and impressive part’ of ‘America’s gateway to Europe’. On that occasion, he added that such ‘gateways need to be stable’ and that they ‘are also a symbolic frame of mind’. Hasn’t the extradition row done terrible damage to this very ‘gateway’ and the transatlantic trust it embodies?
‘I think the gateways do need to be stable but I might take issue with you. I think people don’t understand this well. I don’t think that the relationship in this specific area is out of bounds. But I think that the emotionalism of the case, and the press, and some of the misinformation that’s been put out in the press about the case have contributed to that. I think both countries are concerned about white-collar crime and we’re going to have to deal with these kinds of issues in a global society. Maybe 50 years ago or 100 years ago, extradition was something very unusual. But, today, with internet communications, being able to get on private planes, countries that are serious about law and order — which your country is and mine is too — are going to have to have effective extradition capabilities.’
Notice that the defence of the treaty now focuses upon white-collar crime rather than terrorism. Is the Ambassador actually saying that, in a globalised economy, it is meaningless to say that an alleged financial misdemeanour took place in a particular geographical location — with the obvious alarming implications for businessmen such as the NatWest Three whose alleged offences took place solely in Britain?
No, not meaningless, says Mr Tuttle. ‘But I think there’s a chance, yes, that there will be more cross-border crimes, and that the societies that are interested in law and order — and there’re no two more serious about it than the United States and the United Kingdom — have to deal with that.’ British businessmen, take note.
The 62-year-old Ambassador was thrust into the spotlight immediately when he arrived in July last year, days after the 7/7 attacks, and acquitted himself with honour in trying circumstances. His first 12 months have not been without blemish: last November he denied that US forces had used white phosphorus — and was contradicted by the Pentagon only a day later. In December the American Embassy was forced to issue a partial correction to remarks he had made to the BBC about the ‘extraordinary rendition’ by the US of terrorist suspects to countries where torture is commonplace.
The Ambassador has also found himself at odds with Ken Livingstone over the congestion charge, which the US Embassy refuses to pay on the grounds that diplomats and their staff are exempt from all taxes under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Mayor Livingstone charmingly described Mr Tuttle as a ‘chiselling little crook’.
The Ambassador declines to respond, but sticks to his position. ‘I think the country of Sweden has dealt with this in the best manner. They’ve put in a congestion charge, I believe, not only in Stockholm but three of their other cities and they specifically exempted diplomats. We’re happy to pay our fines and our tolls and all that but this is something very different. It’s a tax.’
Such problems aside, Mr Tuttle and his glamorous wife have been — by common consent — a big hit since they arrived, charming politicians, businessmen and journalists with their hospitality. To adapt John F. Kennedy’s famous quip, the Ambassador is happy to be called ‘the man who accompanied Maria Tuttle to London’. But the couple have also made a point of leaving the capital to meet people outside the British equivalent of the ‘Beltway’ — most recently to the Americana festival in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
‘We’ve made almost 25 trips now in a year,’ he says. ‘Typically we meet with student leaders and do interviews with students. We do press. We meet with the Lord Mayor and the City Council. We meet with business leaders. So — and if there’s a cultural bit we go to that. So I think we’ve covered a lot. There’s a lot more we have to do as we go into the Fall season. But I think that’s a very important part of the relationship.’
Mr Tuttle is surely the first Ambassador to the Court of St James to claim Native American stock (his grandmother and father were members of the Chickasaw Indian tribe). As co-managing partner of Tuttle-Click Automotive Group, he is undoubtedly born to the salesmanship his post requires. But, as a lifelong art connoisseur, he has also brought refinement to the Embassy.
‘Well, you know, part of it I have to give credit to the United Kingdom for, because when I first came here I was 19 years old. I started, just as part of my trip, going to the galleries. I became just entranced with the work of Francis Bacon and I’ll never forget — I guess it was almost 45 years later, when I was privileged to buy my first Bacon at auction, I thought, what a thrill.’
Like just about everyone with an American passport, the Ambassador is a fervent admirer of Tony Blair. But he believes that the special relationship will be safe whoever wins the next election (he had just had lunch with Menzies Campbell, who as the potential powerbroker in the event of a hung Parliament could yet be foreign secretary). ‘I ran into David [Cameron] the other night — just at a party — and we were surrounded by a couple of hundred people, and that’s where we ended up: talking about it. And he was telling me about his commitment to the special relationship. I have no doubt in my discussions with Gordon [Brown] that he feels strongly about that.’
So as far as the US State Department is concerned, is the breach in relations with the Tory party (over Michael Howard’s shifting position on the war) a thing of the past? ‘Ancient history. And we’re pleased with everything that we’ve heard from David Cameron. That’ll be something for the people of your country to decide. But if he became prime minister, the special relationship would be as strong as ever.’
If this is so (whoever is in No. 10 in 2009) that continuing strength will be a fit tribute to the assiduous efforts of this Ambassador. He smiles broadly and says goodbye. On the way out I notice that the security officers are still looking at the mystery mobile. Rarely, I must confess, have I made such a sharp exit.
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