Britain was once a country looked upon with envy throughout the world.

Now we stand as a basket case nation. A totem of derision. A bystander on the world stage.

In the week since the US-Israeli invasion of Iran more than 500 illegal migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats.

Britain was considered the world’s preeminent naval superpower for more than a century, dominating the seas from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 until the early 20th century. During this time the Royal Navy was stronger than the next two largest navies combined.

Today illegals casting off from France have a more serviceable fleet than ours. Britain no longer exists as a military power of any note.

It is now more than a week since war in the Middle East erupted. During that time Iranian drones have peppered RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. There was a time when this would have elicited a rapid response. Not these days.

The Royal Navy has six Type 45 air defence destroyers – three are out of service. A metaphor for Broken Britain.

While the world burns HMS Dragon has not even set sail for the Mediterranean to defend this supposedly strategically important British military base which continues to come under attack.

The Navy is now said to be preparing aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales for deployment to the Middle East – but not until next week. But for what?

President Trump said the US will never forget the lack of support from what he described as “our once great ally”. The UK has chosen to look the other way.

There are few better examples of the tragic inertia, the collective shrug of the shoulders, that has become the default position of Britain under Labour. Although there are plenty.

Under Labour we can’t fix our potholed roads, or agree there are only two sexes, but we can fund the feckless as the welfare bill rises by £73.2bn to £406.2bn over the course of this parliament.

And Trump remains furious at how Starmer signed a treaty to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius

Really, what hope have we got?

The threat from the mad mullahs in Tehran will hardly have come as a surprise. In fact the UK’s ambassador to Israel notified ministers weeks ago that an attack on Iran by US and Israeli forces was highly likely.

It makes the fact that HMS Dragon – which can shoot down ballistic missiles yet sits idle in dock – unconscionable.

This government’s pathetic response to the crisis – and lack of preparedness – is symptomatic of the rot that has set in under Labour.

But perhaps the most striking example of how far Britain has collapsed is the response to the crisis of our time from the appeasers in Westminster.

Last week as the US and Israel sought to nullify the threat from Tehran which, for decades has been a major source of global terror, MPs pranced around parliament alongside Angela Rippon in a ballroom dancing lesson. No, seriously.

Labour is happy to let biological men undress in female only changing rooms, in contravention of the law and any sense of decency, and let MPs and peers waltz around Whitehall while the Middle East tries to free itself from the cranky clerics hellbent on arming Iran with nuclear weapons that puts the world in grave danger.

This government has totally and utterly failed Britain and reduced this once proud country to a global laughing stock.

But should we really be that surprised when it is run by a bunch of cha-cha-chancers?