Within the quick hours after these astonishing exchanges between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, European leaders, one after one other, provided their public help for Ukraine.
However the prime minister remained silent.
Then, as I dashed into the studio for the BBC Information at Ten, my cellphone went.
I had been despatched a statement from No 10: Sir Keir Starmer had spoken to them each and the prime minister “retains unwavering help for Ukraine and is doing all he can to discover a path ahead to a long-lasting peace”.
Friday afternoon within the White Home had not solely completely upended in essentially the most spectacular vogue the connection between two allies – America and Ukraine – however the diplomacy of current days too, with the visits of President Emmanuel Macron of France after which the prime minister to the White Home.
Simply 24 hours earlier than Volodymyr Zelensky’s go to to the Oval Workplace, I had stood there in the identical room witnessing Trump and Sir Keir’s warmth and bonhomie: what a distinction to what was to come back subsequent.
Sir Keir, like Emmanuel Macron earlier than him, had sought to ingratiate himself with the wildly unpredictable American president, satisfied that was the pragmatic plan of action.
Now the prime minister confronts a scenario the place two of the UK’s allies are at loggerheads in essentially the most public and offended manner.
Sources are tight-lipped concerning the exact nature of the 2 cellphone calls Sir Keir made on Friday night time, very conscious of the acute sensitivities of this delicate scenario.
However the UK’s diplomatic efforts in current weeks no less than allowed these calls to be attainable, permitting the UK to aim to behave as a bridge between each Kyiv and Washington, and Washington and Europe.
It comes, although, at some political price. The federal government’s home critics such because the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering argue that the invitation for Donald Trump to come to the UK on a second state visit ought to be rescinded.
Sunday’s summit of European leaders in London, hosted by the prime minister and attended by President Zelensky, was already shaping as much as be essential. It has now taken on additional significance.
To present you a way of that, Commerce Minister Douglas Alexander told BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions that not solely had been the scenes within the Oval Workplace “deeply troubling and sobering” however demonstrated “within the starkest attainable phrases” the extent to which “the world we have all skilled for the final 80 years” had modified, including we that had been in “uncharted waters”.
He additionally referred to as President Zelensky the “bravest political chief in Europe since Winston Churchill”.
And the European Union’s prime diplomat, Kaja Kallas, stated that it had “turn into clear that the free world wants a brand new chief. It’s as much as us, Europeans, to take this problem.”
However that’s the crux of this. Is Europe able to that?
On the coronary heart of the UK and others’ request of America is that the White Home offers a safety assure to Ukraine underneath any peace deal.
The UK needs that to quantity to air cowl. This might be a giant ask of any president at any time, with the hazard of battle escalating with Russia.
However it’s a colossal ask of a president who has made it abundantly clear he has no urge for food by any means for American overseas navy adventures.
Which brings us to this weekend and President Zelensky becoming a member of his European allies within the UK.
There’s a colossal quantity at stake.
