A crucial mission for Trump and Cameron

OH, TO have been a fly on the wall at the Trump residence in Palm Beach when the epitome of cultivated Old Etonian smooth met America’s unabashed king of bling.

Was there ever a more mismatched pair than the Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and the Donald of Mar-a-Largo?

Cameron is a soggy social democrat who hugged huskies and declared himself ‘the heir to Blair’, Mr Trump a chest-beating silverback Conservative.

The Foreign Secretary has described his host as xenophobic, misogynistic, and depressing. One of Mr Trump’s close allies invited Lord Cameron to ‘kiss my ‘a**.’ Hardly the basis for a love-in.

But beneath the absurdist theatre was a profoundly serious purpose. Lord Cameron was trying to persuade Mr Trump to help break the impasse over US aid to Ukraine.

Hardliners in Congress are blocking a $60billion package, saying it’s too much, or should be linked to more funding for domestic and border security.

Mr Trump, who criticised European Nato members for not spending enough on defending themselves, has backed the blockers. But playing political games with so much at stake is beyond dangerous. Starving Ukraine of aid will embolden Vladimir Putin in his bloody revanchism.

And if Ukraine falls, how long before his predatory eye fixes on other former Soviet states. Russia is already in bed with China, Iran, and North Korea. Defeat for Kyiv could presage a wider assault on the West and its allies in Asia and the Middle East. Cameron and Trump may not be bosom pals, but they are bound in a common cause – the defence of freedom against tyranny.