Three years ago, the British Embassy in Washington was stunned to receive a bust of Winston Churchill delivered, without ceremony, by taxi.
The bust, which formerly stood in the Oval Office, had been rejected by the incoming President Obama.
It did not augur well for the ‘special relationship’.
Despite this rocky start, things have improved.
The Obamas’ visit to Britain last year was a runaway success.
This week, our Prime Minister and his wife have been feted as only America knows how.
David Cameron has been accorded the singular honour of being the first foreign leader ever to fly on the Presidential jet, Air Force One.
Its significance will not have been missed across the world.
And I hate to sound cynical, but I wonder why.
America can rely on us, when others fail.
We sit on the UN Security Council with them, we founded NATO with them and we have fought together as brothers in arms many times.
Only Britain is standing firm on Afghanistan, while other nations’ forces ebb away.
Now NATO is being lobbied to intervene in Syria, as in Libya.
Syria is an ally of Iran, and partially controllled by Iranian-backed Hizbollah.
It would be in America’s interests if Assad’s regime fell, particularly now, when the US wants to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons.
And so, US allies Qatar and Saudi Arabia – wahhabi fundamentalists, who dislike the secular Syrian state - are arming and funding the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
The FSA are not entirely the heroic freedom fighters portrayed.
The ‘rebels’ now include jihadists and Al Qaeda.
Those most at risk if Assad falls include the Christian 10% of Syrians, who until now, have coexisted peacefully with the Muslim majority.
Even Israel would prefer the devils they know to the extremists they don’t, as neighbours.
I can’t help feeling that the USA, for all its generosity, has ulterior motives.
I think they will need us again, shortly.
And, to avoid a meltdown in the Middle East, we must be prepared to say no.