It’s time for the Special Relationship to be extracted from the diplomatic cupboard and dusted off.

Britain needs it. Europe needs it. And, although they are less keen to admit that they need help from any quarter, the US needs it to become the cornerstone of a new Transatlantic Alliance.

For years the UK shared the “Special Relationship” tag with France and Germany. In fact, after Brexit, Britain probably slipped into third place in Washington’s relationship arrangements.

But French President Emmanuel Macron has politically castrated himself with the recent political elections and the dull and dreary German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fails to inspire either the Germans or the wider world community

Britain may no longer be an EU power, but Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide victory gives him latitude at home and kudos abroad.

He is helped by a foreign secretary who has the potential to go down in history as one of the best in modern times. David Lammy wasted no time in stamping his image on British foreign policy. Almost before Sir Keir had finished his acceptance speech, Lammy was on the plane for Paris, Berlin, Warsaw and Kyiv. This week he was at the prime minister’s elbow for the NATO summit in Washington where Sir Keir was the only NATO leader awarded a tete a tete with President Joe Biden.

Lammy also has extensive American connections. The new foreign secretary has worked, studied and lived in the US. He has family in America and his father is buried in Texas.

But what if Donald Trump returns to the White House? A prospect which appears increasingly likely as Joe Biden ages with every passing day. Lammy is on record as labelling Trump a “woman-hating neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath” and a “profound threat to international order” as well as a racist and a fascist.

But both Sir Keir and Lammy have said that the transAtlantic relationship remains the “bedrock” of British foreign policy. And in a recent speech at the conservative US think tank the Hudson Institute, Lammy said that Trump’s comments on European security had been “misunderstood.” He has also gone out of his way recently to meet senior Trump foreign policy advisers.

Unfortunately, Trump’s negative policy towards Europe is based on good, sound politics. It is a reflection of a growing US isolationism which in turn is a reaction to series of foreign policy reversals. That feeling of being hard done by the rest of the world (especially its European allies) will continue regardless of whomever win the November election.

To allay European fears, much was made of this week’s decision to base a fresh batch of American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Germany. But you need to read the fine print. The missiles are not being offered on a permanent basis as they were in the 1970s and 1980s. No, they are a stopgap measure until the European members of NATO can manufacture and deploy their own intermediate-range systems.

So, the 75^th NATO birthday celebrations in Washington, were also the scene for the signing of a letter of intent by Germany, France, Italy and Poland to develop their own long-range missiles which will be called the European Long-Range Approach. In addition, the European members of NATO have all agreed to commit 20 percent of their growing defence budgets to manufacturing new weapons. European NATO sees the writing on the wall and is acting accordingly.

But none of these European moves will replace America’s strategic nuclear umbrella. Neither would the nuclear arsenals of France and Britain. In fact, Britain’s nuclear deterrent is totally reliant on US technology. And that reliance is part of the special relationship which may keep America committed to Europe even if Trump withdraws the US from NATO.

Americans may not feel particularly warm towards other Europeans. But with the British they share a common language, legal system, intelligence links, alliances through two world wars, investments, educational links and a long, long history. On top of that, Donald Trump, has to protect his Scottish golf course. Britain will almost certainly continue to nestle under the American nuclear umbrella, partly because of the existing nuclear links and partly because of history.

Britain, for its part, may not want European workers or to have to share sovereignty with Brussels. But it recognises that it is in its interest to belong to a common European defence alliance.  And that offering its nuclear weapons and other military hardware to the EU could lead to other as yet unspecified benefits.

If a Trumpian America withdrew from NATO, or reduced its commitment, then Britain could become the link that keeps Europe nestling under the American nuclear umbrella. America would have an alliance with Britain. Britain would have an alliance with America. If Europe was attacked then Britain would be treaty-bound to come to its defense. If Britain was attacked then America would be treaty-bound to come to the defense of Britain, and, by association, Europe.

It is not as good as the current North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. But it is better than the nothing about which too many are talking.

* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".