London calling for Cindy McCain, the widow who helped to topple Donald Trump

Cindy McCain, widow of John McCain, is a frontrunner to become US ambassador to Britain, after Arizona turned from red to blue.

Back in 2008, Cindy McCain campaigns with her husband John for his presidential bid. Picture: AFP

She is the widow with a sting in her tail. Her renunciation of Donald Trump was a factor in helping to deliver the presidency to his rival, Joe Biden.

Now Cindy McCain, wife to the late senator John McCain, is a frontrunner to become ambassador to London. Mrs McCain, an Anglophile, is credited by the Democrats with helping turn the state of Arizona from red to blue.

Her late husband, who lost the presidential race to Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, was one of the few Republicans to resist President Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party.

McCain, who died aged 81 in August 2018, came out against Mr Trump, earning his ire. He also had a starring role when Mr Trump sought to repeal President Obama’s healthcare reform; McCain flew into Washington, despite undergoing critical care for his brain tumour, to deliver a thumbs down to the repeal effort the Senate floor.

Mr Trump angered voters in Arizona with his riposte to McCain’s criticisms of his candidacy when he said that the military veteran was not “a war hero because he was captured” and he preferred “people that weren’t captured”.

McCain spent more than five years in captivity in Vietnam after his plane was shot down in 1967. He refused an offer of early release after the north Vietnamese learnt his father was a commander of US forces. Mr Trump received draft deferments during Vietnam for bone spurs.

Mrs McCain, a lifelong Republican, came out for Joe Biden, recording an advert in which she celebrated her late husband’s friendship with the Democratic contender. Her support was viewed as crucial to the surprise Democratic victory in Arizona.

If Mrs McCain, 66, would like the job in London, “it’s hers if she wants it,” a Biden insider said. “She delivered Arizona. They know that.”

It is unclear if Mrs McCain will accept the position. Since her husband’s death she has been prominent in promoting his charitable foundations. Friends say she is deeply committed to extending her husband’s legacy.

She has four adult children and several grandchildren. Her daughter, Megan McCain, is a television commentator who has carried on her father’s legacy, rebuking Mr Trump at McCain’s funeral when she mourned her father’s death as the “passing of American greatness, the real thing”.

“The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great,” she said.

Cindy McCain’s ties to the UK are long and deep but it is recognised that she may not be prepared to make the move. Other candidates under consideration include Tony Gardner, the former ambassador to the EU under President Obama.

The current ambassador is Woody Johnson, who was appointed by Mr Trump. It is a consistent feature of the American system that ambassadorships are given as political favours. His predecessor, Matthew Barzun, was a big donor to Mr Obama’s campaign.

Mr Biden’s choice of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat, as ambassador to the UN, rather than a political rock star, has been seen in Washington as a signal that his presidency will reorientate focus towards the State Department, which came under fire during the Trump years.

The Times