It is not easy being a friend of Donald Trump, but it is a lot less dangerous than being his enemy. There isn’t a huge range of options in between. War in the Middle East is exposing how limited the choices are for a British prime minister.

The US president doesn’t see alliances as long-term relationships based on mutual advantage, but as rolling transactions on a mafia model. The boss offers protection in exchange for tribute and loyalty.

This is a problem for all European democracies. For decades, their security has depended on a concept of western solidarity – institutions, values and laws – that Trump holds in contempt. For Britain, self-exiled from the European Union and acculturated to a “special relationship” with Washington, it is a crisis of geopolitical orientation.

Keir Starmer’s shifting position on US military action in Iran encapsulates the problem. At first, he withheld permission to use UK military bases, ostensibly on the grounds that there was no legal basis for war.

The Tehran regime is certainly murderous. Most of its victims are Iranians themselves. The Islamic Republic is also committed to harming the US and destroying Israel, but there is no evidence of any imminent action in pursuit of those goals to justify preemptive strikes. The more pressing motive seems to be Trump seeking thrills in the international arena because his domestic political revolution is running out of steam.

Within days, Starmer changed his position. Tehran’s “scorched earth” retaliations – firing missiles at US-aligned countries in the region – put British assets and civilians in jeopardy. To avert that hazard, RAF bases would be involved after all, but only in the interests of “collective self-defence”. British forces would not join “offensive action”. The lessons of the Iraq war would not be forgotten, the prime minister said on Monday.

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