Donald Trump returned to US as a President fit for a King

Donald Trump returned to the United States with his status burnished as a President fit for a King.

He delighted in the honour of having a second state visit to the UK and emerged as the biggest winner from this fantasia of pageantry and banqueting.

Images of King Charles laughing and chatting with the President have gone round the world. Democrats in the US Congress may want to treat Mr Trump as a dangerous pariah who has been through two impeachment processes, but this is a man the UK deems worthy of sitting next to the Princess of Wales.

It is less clear whether the visit can be chalked up as a triumph for the Prime Minister. World leaders consider a press conference with Mr Trump a success if it does not end up with them being berated before a potential audience of billions - a fate most notably suffered by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.

Sir Keir Starmer escaped such a drama. The President did not compare the state of free speech in the UK to that of North Korea; he did not crack jokes about Angela Rayner's resignation or Labour's abysmal poll ratings; but nor was he unequivocally helpful.

At a time when Reform UK and senior Conservatives are pummelling Labour for its net zero policies, having the President describe wind energy as a "disaster" and "a very expensive joke" will have irked Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and his allies. In contrast, advocates of drilling for oil in UK waters will have cheered when he said the North Sea had "phenomenal" potential.

And when the Government is failing to stop small boat crossings, having the President suggest you could "call out the military" was another awkward moment.

The biggest disappointment from the visit is the US refusal to scrap 25% tariffs on our struggling steel sector. Hopes for a breakthrough were dashed - not even the serving of a 1912 cognac which honoured the birth year of Mr Trump's mother could soften the American position.

Sir Keir will be relieved the bosses of tech giants Nvidia and Apple found time to drop by, and the announcement of £150billion in investment coming into the UK is especially welcome when he is under profound pressure to deliver economic growth. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg sounded a sceptical note about new IT cash, saying the UK is getting "sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley" which will leave the country more dependent on American firms.

The fine details of contracts will be pored over. MPs will want figures for the full cost of the state visit and answers on whether the nation is getting bangs for its scarce bucks.

But if legions of the President's admirers are inspired to holiday in the UK then Sir Keir can argue the world glimpsed the best of British. He has strengthened his relationship with the most powerful man in the world at a moment of international danger, and he will judge that time well spent.

The only person who will likely want to erase all memory of the state visit from his memory is Lord Mandelson, the ousted ambassador to the US. When Mr Trump was asked if he had some sympathy for the man he had been photographed beside in the Oval Office, he said: "I don't know him actually."

Geopolitics can be brutal.