The Ambassador – the ultimate reality show for top Trumps

One is Warren Stephens, the freshly minted US ambassador to the UK, a billionaire banker rewarded by Trump for being a generous donor to his 2024 presidential campaign with a top job and a Regent’s Park ambassadorial mansion.

The other is Burnett himself, a working-class kid from east London and Falklands War veteran, who became the reality TV mastermind behind Survivor, The Voice, Shark Tank and The Apprentice.

Burnett, the man who made Trump a television star, is a close friend of the president and since January has been the US special envoy to the UK. Yet Burnett’s role raised a question for diplomats in the UK and US. Which of them would be Trump’s guy at the Court of St James? Stephens would outrank Burnett. Yet Burnett was far closer to the president.

Trump announced in December last year he had picked Stephens, then less than three weeks later, revealed Burnett as special envoy “focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities and cultural exchanges”.

“My first thought was ‘That’s what the ambassador does, how weird’,” said Lukens, who was second-in-command in London until Trump fired him in 2018 for mentioning Barack Obama in a speech.

While Stephens plodded through congressional hearings waiting to be confirmed, Burnett got to work in the city where he was born. He visited Downing Street, made friends with people including Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, then nipped back to the White House with Starmer for the summit on 27 February when the prime minister whipped out a letter from the King inviting Trump for a state visit.

With a trade deal, the state visit and Trump’s ambition to stage the Open at his Turnberry course in Scotland, there is a lot for the successful candidate to do.

Although the special envoy role was officially limited to a 180-day term, in a Politico piece last month, Burnett reportedly indicated that he expected his posting would be renewed and said he was looking forward to “working in lockstep with [Stephens] on behalf of President Trump”. But yesterday, the US embassy issued a statement settling the boardroom showdown: Stephens is hired. Burnett, not exactly fired, will step away at the end of his 180 days.

“It’s an honour to have carried out President Trump’s priorities as the US special envoy to the UK,” Burnett’s statement read. He congratulated Stephens and said: “My special envoy role is limited to 180 days and I have used that time to build a solid foundation between our nations’ leaders.”

Downing Street will miss Burnett if, as the statement implies, he does not continue beyond July. He has given them insights into how to deal with the White House and is culturally closer to Starmer than Stephens is. Burnett grew up in an end-terrace house in Dagenham, where his late parents, both Scots, worked at the Ford factory.

By contrast, Stephens, 68, is “southern royalty”. His family investment bank, Stephens Inc, was founded 92 years ago and his US$3.3bn fortune is enough perhaps even to buy Tottenham Hotspur, the football club he has flown to London to watch since the 1980s.

Stephens will arrive in London, possibly this week. Burnett remains based in the US but was in the UK last Friday to visit students at his alma mater, The Warren School in Romford. He left them with a life lesson: “When someone tells you no, don’t take it as rejection,” he said. “NO simply stands for Next Opportunity.”