Sir Keir's problems were already piling up before Trump's entry into the White House, and he goes to Washington knowing further instability in Europe - and potential trade barriers with the UK's second-biggest trading partner - only makes his already difficult task of delivering a "decade of national renewal" harder still.
Sir Keir Starmer will this week go to Washington to try to help broker a just peace deal for Ukraine with a capricious president who in just a week has unwound a consensus that was born from the ashes of the Second World War and had endured for 70 years.
The prime minister will also, in a nod to Trump's tilt to the Indo-Pacific, reiterate the UK's commitment to AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership between the US, UK, and Australia.
Up to now, Trump has parroted Vladimir Putin's playbook, accusing Ukraine of starting the war (untrue) and Volodymyr Zelenskyy being a dictator (also untrue), while also ruling out Kyiv joining NATO and promising to normalise relations with Russia.
The hope is for the prime minister to come away from the White House with a commitment to begin a process of deepening trade and economic ties between London and Washington, which leads to a series of individual trade arrangements rather than a big bang deal that could take years to negotiate.
