A horror show. A pile-on. However you want to describe it, the meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last night was a historic catastrophe: Ukraine and its most important ally in a public slanging match.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy played the US president as the Prime Minister and his team 'war-gamed' how to handle the high stakes meeting.

Starmer seems to have come away with the chance at avoiding tariffs by recognising the constraints of the reality on the ground in Washington.