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In fact, the opposite has happened: The more that other countries see him failing to get his way, the more they’re standing up to his pressures, a trend that is beginning to embolden his domestic opponents as well.

He told the BBC that, more than 50 years after launching Virgin Records in London, the UK remained "really special" and was "one of the few countries in the world that is stable".

That is now being severely tested – and not just by US tariffs.

That is not to denigrate for a moment how much they matter in the places where they are happening, nor the extent to which they will mould the mood of national politics in their aftermath.

The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.