Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron did their best to tee up a productive meeting between the Ukrainian and American leaders in their own visits to Washington. It was crucial to try. But the outcome was failure, in all its performative ugliness.
That may sound stark, but it’s the reality. Yes, the Nato treaty is still there, but we can have little faith that President Trump could be relied upon to honour it were we to activate Article 5 and call our American cousins to our defence.
It is possible for a strong consensus to be re-established. We know this in Britain: the Labour Party indulged in isolationism for several years, but is now recommitted to defence and to our allies. So it can be done. But we cannot guarantee that it will happen for America, nor predict when.
The diplomatic contrast the British Government has projected in recent days is a good start in adapting to this changed world. Go to Washington, and you risk being hectored and denounced in order to make “great television”. Come to London, and you can expect a polite welcome, a thoughtful hearing, and a photo op with the King.
To build the trust and relationships from which the new defensive military alliances we need can emerge, effective diplomacy – including the tactful deployment of the monarch – is itself useful.
First, how to respond to Trump and his government: should they be snubbed, courted, begged to come back? Second, should there be an EU army? Third, what is the future for Nato if the United States can no longer be relied upon?
The Prime Minister’s support for Ukraine is clear, but he chose to stop short of denouncing Trump publicly – in part to be able to speak both to the Americans and the Ukrainians in the hope of bringing them back together.
square MARK WALLACE
There is a way Europe can afford to step up for Ukraine - make Russia pay for it
Read MoreThe approach will draw flak from Trump critics and sympathisers – including the new British ambassador to Washington, Lord Mandelson, whose off-message and more Trump-friendly declarations have already had to be politely slapped down by the Government.
The twin questions of an EU army and the future format of Nato are entwined.
An EU army would also fail to provide a route for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea or others to put their shoulders to the wheel.
Starmer’s choice of words – “a coalition of the willing” – are crucial. He echoed George W Bush, who forged such a coalition because France would not let Nato support the US in Iraq.
In other words, this is a time for alliances of nation states – those quaint, old-fashioned institutions which people so often speak of as if they were a thing of the past – to come into play as the essential vehicle for making decisions and getting things done.
Mark Wallace is chief executive of Total Politics Group
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