Keir Starmer and his advisers must be breathing audible sighs of relief.

The British prime minister traveled to Washington for his first White House visit since President Trump’s inauguration in unpromising circumstances. Over recent weeks, the president had initiated talks with Russia over Ukraine, bypassing Europe and the government in Kyiv. Vice President JD Vance had accused Europe of suppressing free speech and ignoring mass migration. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had announced that “safeguarding European security must be an imperative for European members of NATO.”

Starmer can return to London with a sense of achievement. Trump lauded the U.K. and its prime minister as “a very special place and ... a special man,” and his mood was more positive than many had feared.

The prime minister deployed a coup de theatre early on, producing — literally from his inside pocket — a letter from King Charles III inviting Trump for a U.K. state visit. Starmer sailed close to parodying his host when saying, “This is really special ... this has never happened before ... this is unprecedented.” Trump undertook a state visit in June 2019, and he will be the first elected politician of the modern era to be invited for a second.

Two potentially contentious issues — Starmer’s eagerness to work more closely........

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