Mr. Richard Neal:

I thank the Senator for his very important question. Some years ago, Bill Clinton, who is a very dear friend of mine and to whom I spoke just a few weeks ago, summed it up by saying he hoped our advantage in the world would be that we would lead by the power of our example, not the example of our power. I hope we will return to that approach. Joe Biden is a former member of the United States Senate and is a member of its alumni association. He is an institutionalist by nature. American foreign policy since the end of the Second World War has largely been bipartisan, with minor exception. America can return to that position in terms of meeting the world and embracing multilateral institutions, including the Paris Agreement. I hope that we will be able to return to the Iran agreement and the World Health Organization. The President-elect has signalled that he intends to do precisely that. That could engage a new day for Republicans and Democrats.

Senator Dooley triggered a memory of the Clinton Administration asking me to defend the decision to issue a visa to Gerry Adams on a late-night British television programme, "Newsnight". I believe the programme is still running. On the request of the President, I appeared on the programme and defended the decision by the Clinton Administration. My staff will confirm that I received more ugly mail over that defence than any other event I have undertaken in my time in public life, which now spans more than four and a half decades. The Senator has reminded me that, sometimes, it is important to take those big risks. I urged Bill Clinton to do it and he did it. I can tell the committee that it created a rumble across Washington and many people disagreed with it at the time, but it paid a significant dividend for all of us because he took that risk and nurtured the relationships that the Senator aptly described.