President Donald Trump is now undisputed leader of the free world, since his clear election win last year. ​The phrase might sound like a tired one but there is no economy and society as rich and as powerful while also as open as is the US. The only economy or military remotely comparable in overall size is that of China, and it is not free. Our hopes depend on Mr Trump. For that reason the UK will have to build the best relations it can with him. In Northern Ireland too we hope he visits, and perhaps our stunning golf courses will help to woo him here, given that we are between his courses in Co Clare and Scotland. If anything, however, has shown how the tightrope for Britain in forging a successful relationship with America’s new commander-in-chief it is his utterly disgraceful comments on Ukraine. Supporters of Mr Trump are always quick to explain away his wilder commentary, and it is certainly true that he says outrageous things that turn out to have little import. He boasts of aiming high in deals to get the best outcome. And so on. But none of this can justify or explain his utterly appalling remarks about President Zelensky being a dictator and his clear implication that the latter, not President Putin, is a threat to democracy. Mr Trump’s colossal vanity is such that he seems to have no sense that his words on, for example, taking control of Gaza or making Ukraine pay heavily for the war are potentially very dangerous. This puts Britain in a very difficult situation, perhaps having on this particular issue work more closely with a Europe that has sought to punish it over Brexit. With hope influential figures such as Boris Johnson, who for all his flaws gave vital support to Kiev, are working hard behind the scenes to try to help steer Americans from facilitating a disastrous capitulation to Russia.