At what point do you admit that one of your longest standing friendships, which you’ve shared since way back when, has finally run its course?

You stood by your old mate after he lost his job and went off the rails - even when he refused to accept he’d been sacked and had to be escorted from the building by security kicking and screaming.

You gave him the benefit of the doubt when he was accused of paying off that porn star - I mean who hasn’t, right? And all that stuff about getting prostitutes to urinate on a hotel bed, well that was clearly fiction although, given all the stories he’s told over the years, you wouldn’t put it past him.

The final straw was when he was ordered by a court to pay more than £60 million to a woman who accused him of raping her and then defamed her by suggesting she’d made it up. No, a pal’s a pal, but the next time he suggests meeting for a pint, you’re definitely going to blank him.

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon has had to endure shameful misogyny

If only it was that simple. If only those were the only considerations for the UK in deciding its future ties with Donald Trump’s America, should the businessman be re-elected as President in the autumn.

Relationships between states are more complicated and consequential than personal ones, particularly when they involve the so-called "special relationship". At stake are not just diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties between the two countries, there is also our position as America’s closest ally and our place at the pivot of global defence and security arrangements.

While the US election is still 10 months away, and Trump has yet to officially win the Republican nomination, polling indicates he may well be........

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