Good morning. The Nato summit that started last night in the Netherlands could hardly be better timed for Donald Trump: after declaring himself the saviour of world peace as Iran and Israel agreed a tentative ceasefire, he now intends to take a victory lap in Europe. European leaders, for their part, will be desperate for him to feel like he is getting his due.
That is part of why member states signed up to a new defence spending commitment that Trump has long demanded – and part of why the UK is buying a squadron of US-made fighter jets to carry nuclear warheads. But as well as anxieties about the US’s reliability, all of that also reflects Europe’s recognition that it faces a serious new threat to the east.
