It's more that very British zeal in being a vassal state.

I suppose it's given some kind of cultural ideological cover by the English language and the idea of "our Greece to their Rome..." : that the Brits find a vacarious satisfaction in believing US hegemony is a powerful continuation or extension of their own empirial existence. Of course the US couldn't give a flying fart about the UK's delusions of grandeur: as long as it supinely does what it's told...and it always does.