In June 1939, King George VI was dispatched to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Springwood estate, a royal charm offensive to woo an isolationist America as Europe headed for war. Last year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempted the same trick, dangling the promise of tea at Buckingham Palace in return for favorable trade terms from President Donald Trump.

Now the charm has curdled. Where FDR’s America initially shied away from drawn out conflicts in faraway climes, it is now Britain’s turn to be leery about a war on Iran that lacks rationale, legality and post-conflict planning. Trump has responded by telling Starmer he’s “no Winston Churchill” and declaring that the “special” Anglo-US relationship is “obviously not what it was.”

© Bloomberg