For the self-styled monarch of the North, Andy Burnham, the outcome today of the state banquet is clear: any hoped-for bid for No 10 has just been kicked into touch by the actual King of England.
Such was the buoyant, deferent mood of Donald Trump on the back of his glittering Windsor stay, the press conference at Chequers yesterday passed with barely a whiff of controversy. Even the much-feared trip wire of Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson was deftly batted aside by the president, who, instead of rising to the bait, smoothly retorted with a confident smile: “I never knew him.” Meanwhile, Keir Starmer beside him frantically clawed at his notes, as if hoping to bury himself inside them.
