The "Special Relationship"........

[10ClarionSt]

.....with the USA isn't something that was borne out of mutual fondness and friendship. Quite the opposite. The "Special Relationship" began when the USA declared war on Japan. Japan had an allied agreement with Germany, so Germany then declared war on the USA. The USA didn't come riding over over the hill, like cavalry to the rescue for the UK. As a consequence, military co-operation was a necessity and so was intelligence. Churchill was reluctant to reveal Operation Ultra to the USA but when he did, that was the start of the ridiculously so-called "Special Relationship" In 1934 the USA developed a plan called War Plan Red. This involved the possibilty of the USA declaring war on Britain and the British Empire. The initial stages of the "war" would involve invading Canada and British held Carribean territory. The "Special Realtionship" was war time thing folks. Nowt else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/57438410

[ichkeria]

“ Special intelligence sharing that other NATO allies aren't privy to? ”

Yep

[tomus42]

Which is only the same as what happens between any allies Ich. Of course we can never be sure what the secret services are up to, but agreements on info sharing are negotiated like trade deals. You can be sure the US and UK have other partners that they share 'special' intelligence with when it's mutually beneficial.

[tomus42]

Feel free to list any other benefits by the way, or is that it?

[ichkeria]

That’s quite a big one especially as despite what you seem to think, that particular relationship does not in fact compare to any of that other stuff.
I’m not here to claim it’s some sort of magic formula, simply to counteract the cause dismissals and cod history

[ichkeria]

“Casual” dismissals