The anti-Trump protesters forget where Britain’s true friendships lie

American politics – like our own – is more polarised than ever. More than perhaps any other president in living memory, Donald Trump has divided opinion. To his supporters, he can do no wrong. None of the old political orthodoxies seem to apply. To his detractors at home and abroad, his presidency is an embarrassment, arousing expressions of hatred rarely seen in Western politics.

But we would be foolish to muddle a dislike of a particular President with our historic and deep commitment to an enduring, strong, British-American relationship. Even more foolish to presume that everything he says or does has no merit. This week we will commemorate our shared sacrifices in the D-Day landings, but I will also be thinking of Monte Cassino where my father fought as part of the British Eighth Army – alongside the American 5th Army and alongside our brave Polish and other allies – with 55,000 Allied casualties; and I will also be thinking of the extraordinary generosity which led to the Marshall Aid Programme (worth over $125 billion in 2019 US dollars) to help rebuild Western European economies and democracies after the end of World War II.