You ain't seen nothing yet...

Think Macron's state visit to Britain this week was the height of British diplomacy? Prepare yourself for an onslaught of pomp and circumstance when Donald Trump, 'King of the World', comes to town

- JONATHAN WALKER

SIR Keir Starmer enjoyed another chance to play the global statesman this week as he hosted the latest meeting of his “coalition of the willing”. French president Emmanuel Macron, in the UK for a state visit, took part in person while other world leaders dialled in to a conference call.

They discussed plans to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine, if and when the Russian invasion ends. But the truth is the summit, more than four months after Sir Keir first convened his coalition in early March, illustrated the irrelevance of the British Prime Minister and leaders across Europe.

Because the one person who really mattered was missing. US president Donald Trump was busy doing other things, and sent an envoy instead. Without his blessing, and the active support of the US military, the coalition can do nothing but talk.

Mr Macron had been a guest of the King, who treated him to a glitzy state banquet at Windsor Castle attended by Sir Mick Jagger among others. Mr Trump, however, due to make his own state visit later this year, is the nearest we have ever seen to a king of the world. The American president is reshaping the globe to suit him, and his vision of America. And he’s proved his doubters wrong. To be fair, doubting the US president was easy. Stock markets crashed when Mr Trump announced swingeing global tariffs on April 2. Americans with pension funds saw the value of their savings plummet.