However, this latest faux pas tarnishes the international reputation of our country and comes as Starmer manages to do something few thought possible: polling worse than Liz Truss.

It begs the question: If the British public doesn’t trust the PM, why should the President of the United States?

Politics, like business, runs on confidence. Donald Trump could not close a mega-bucks deal because he woke up on the wrong side of the Lincoln bed. He did it because he senses weakness, and like a shark, the Prez smells blood in the water.

Starmer swept into office promising stability, competence and growth. Instead, he delivered broken manifesto commitments, stealth tax rises and an economy that now sees skyrocketing unemployment, talent fleeing the country, and feels perpetually stuck in reverse.

That’s not the profile of a guy America is keen to do long-term business with.

Post-Brexit Britain was an open book to the world; outside of the EU, there existed clear blue waters over which the HMS Britain could sail in search of ambitious trade deals across the Anglosphere. Deals that would boost GDP, create jobs and deliver the kind of real-terms growth Britons can feel in our pay packets.

Doing business with America, the world’s greatest economy, is central to that vision.

Yet instead of leaning into that opportunity, Starmer appears to have done the opposite. He has spent months signalling his intentions to cosy up to Brussels instead of Washington. From food standards to regulation, the message to the United States has been muddled at best. Trump is not a complex man. He values clarity and leverage above all else; he wants a deal that works for the US, and in the truest sense of good business, a deal only works when both sides benefit.

This now-suspended deal was meant to be a crowning achievement for Starmer, cooperation on AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy. It’s like wordsalad catnip for the boffins of Whitehall.

Instead, it has been reduced to a glossy photo-op and a reminder of what could have been. The Americans want concessions, and Starmer wants to keep the EU and his backbenchers sweet.

The result is paralysis.

All of this comes against a backdrop of a Prime Minister who has tripped from embarrassment to embarrassment, leading confidence at home and now abroad to nosedive.

The “special relationship” isn’t a birthright; it has to be earned, cultivated and fostered.

Right now, Starmer looks like a man trying to please everyone and convincing no one. Until he can show leadership at home – and restore faith among British voters – he should not be surprised if America decides to keep him waiting.