Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill quit No 10 after election criticism

Theresa May's two closest advisers have quit after the Conservatives' failure to win the general election.
The BBC understands the PM had been warned she faced a leadership challenge on Monday unless she sacked Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
Mr Timothy said he was taking responsibility for his role in the "disappointing" election result.
He said he regretted not including a pledge to cap social care costs in the party's widely criticised manifesto.
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the pair's departure bought the PM some "breathing space" following 24 hours of recriminations after the Conservatives lost their overall majority.
He said the two were so close to the PM that critical MPs believed that, unless they made way, she would not be able to change her leadership style to adopt a more "outgoing, inclusive, responsive, empathetic approach".
Mrs May has said she intends to stay as prime minister and is seeking support for the Democratic Unionists to form a government. Chief Whip Gavin Williamson is in Belfast to begin formal talks on a deal.
Mr Timothy and Ms Hill both stepped down amid mounting pressure on Mrs May to overhaul the way No 10 worked and broaden her circle of advisers.
Announcing his resignation on the Conservative Home website, Mr Timothy urged Tory MPs to "get behind" Mrs May but said nothing should be allowed to get in the way of the process of forming a government and beginning Brexit talks.
He said the Conservatives' failure to win was not due to a lack of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but due to an "unexpected surge" of support for Labour.
He conceded his party had failed to communicate a sufficiently "positive" message to voters and address their concerns over years of austerity and inter-generational divisions, including over Brexit.
"We were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour," he said.
He defended the party's "honest and strong" manifesto, saying controversial proposals on social care had been discussed in government for months and were not his own personal "pet project".
But he added he took "responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme" and "I regret the decision not to include in the manifesto a ceiling as well as a floor in our proposal to help meet the increasing cost of social care". 


Norman Smith said he understood that senior Conservatives had warned the PM they would instigate a leadership contest at a meeting of backbenchers early next week if the pair did not leave, and were confident they could get the required 48 signatures to trigger a contest.
One former minister, Anna Soubry, welcomed the clearout, saying it was the "right thing to do" and saying the PM must "build a consensus" on Brexit and other issues.
But Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson said the PM's advisers had "taken the fall" for her but tweeted the PM was "responsible for her own defeat".
Earlier, Mrs May's director of communications until the election was announced, Katie Perrior, called the campaign "pretty dysfunctional", telling the BBC she "needed to broaden her circle of advisers and have a few grey hairs in there who been around a bit and could say 'don't do that'".
As the Conservative leadership begins formal negotiations with the DUP, disquiet is being expressed in some quarters about the move.
Charles Tannock, a Conservative member of the European Parliament, said the DUP was a "hardline, populist, protectionist" party and a "poor fit" as a partner for the Conservatives.
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, tweeted a link to a speech she had made about same-sex marriage - something the DUP opposes.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where same-sex marriage is not legal.


Ms Davidson, who is gay, plans to marry her partner in the near future and said she had been "straightforward" with Mrs May about her concerns.
"I told her that there were a number of things that count to me more than the party," she told the BBC. "One of them is country, one of the others is LGBTI rights.
"I asked for a categoric assurance that if any deal or scoping deal was done with the DUP, there would be absolutely no rescission of LGBTI rights in the rest of the UK, in Great Britain, and that we would use any influence that we had to advance LGBTI rights in Northern Ireland."
By winning 12 additional seats in Scotland, Ruth Davidson played a significant part in helping Theresa May to stay in Downing Street, BBC Scotland editor Sarah Smith says.
Speaking on Friday, the prime minister said the parties had a "strong relationship" and that she intended to form a government which could "provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country".
Analysis by political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue
The clock is ticking for Theresa May. She needs to conclude a deal with the DUP in the next week or so ahead of the Queen's Speech, which will set out the new government's agenda.
That takes place on Monday 19 June - the same day Brexit negotiations are due to start.
The DUP and its 10 MPs are in a very strong position. It's all their Christmases rolled into one and they will make sure they leverage as much as they can from their advantage.
Money for Northern Ireland will undoubtedly be part of their demands, and Mrs May will expect that. But trickier will be any demands they have about the implementation of Brexit in Northern Ireland - in particular the DUP's determination to maintain a soft border with the south.
Another potential problem is the planned restart of negotiations for power-sharing in the province.
Typically the British government tries to act as an honest broker between Republicans and Unionists. But if Mrs May is doing a deal with the DUP, that could make it harder to reach an agreement with Sinn Fein.
DUP leader Arlene Foster confirmed she had spoken to Mrs May and that they would speak further to "explore how it may be possible to bring stability to this nation at this time of great challenge".
Mrs May is expected to continue assembling her top team later after she decided to keep key figures - including Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris and Home Secretary Amber Rudd - in their current roles.


David Davis will also stay on as Brexit secretary and Sir Michael Fallon will keep his role as defence secretary.
There could be changes elsewhere in the cabinet while nine middle-ranking and junior ministers, including Ben Gummer and Jane Ellison, lost their seats at the general election and will need to be replaced.
Jeremy Corbyn has said Mrs May should "make way" for a government that would be "truly representative of the people of this country".
The Labour leader, who is expected to announce his shadow cabinet on Sunday, said his party was ready to form a minority government of its own, but stressed he would not enter into any "pacts or deals" with other parties.

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Marawi siege: US special forces aiding Philippine army

US special forces are helping the Philippine military retake the southern city of Marawi from IS-linked militants, the Philippine army says.
The forces are providing technical help and are not fighting, it said.
President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier threatened to throw out US troops amid strained relations since taking office.
Militants have been under siege since rampaging through the southern city on 23 May. The latest fighting has claimed the lives of 13 Philippine marines.
Hundreds of militants, who have been flying the black flag of so-called Islamic State and are led by the self-styled IS emir of the southern Philippines, Isnilon Hapilon, and the Maute brothers Omar and Abdullah, are still holed up in the city.
The latest casualties bring the number of Philippine troops killed in the fighting to 58.
At least 138 militants and 20 civilians have also been killed, the government says.
The BBC's Jonathan Head says there are several reports that the Maute brothers, who lead the Maute group, are among the dead, with intercepted communications from jihadist groups suggesting this. 


In a press briefing, Lt Col Jo-ar Herrera said the army was checking the reports. He cited "strong indications" but gave no further details.
The brothers' parents, who are believed to have helped fund their armed group, have been captured.
Marawi is on the southern island of Mindanao, which has a significant Muslim population in the majority Catholic country and has seen a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency.
Col Herrera confirmed for the first time that US special forces were helping the army.
"They are not fighting. They are just providing technical support," he said.
Reuters news agency earlier quoted the US embassy in Manila as verifying the presence of US forces. It would not go into operational details but said the US forces were helping at the request of the Philippine government.
The US has had a small logistical military presence in the Philippines, although a programme to advise the Philippine army on fighting the Abu Sayyaf militant group was discontinued in 2015.
Mr Duterte, a strongman who has supported the extrajudicial killing of drug users and other criminals, has been highly critical of the US since taking power last June, straining a long-time alliance.
But he had what the White House described as a "very friendly" phone call with President Donald Trump in April, and has since said his differences with the US were with President Barack Obama's administration.
Philippine army spokesman Brig Gen Restituto Padilla Jr has vowed that the national flag will be flying once again over all of Marawi by Monday - the Philippine national day.
The army has missed past deadlines to rid the city of militants amid two weeks of air and ground assaults.
Col Herrera said the militants were now restricted to three districts within the city.
"The world of terrorism inside the city is growing smaller by the day," he said.
Officials say that foreign nationals are among the militants in Marawi, with the list of countries and territories including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, India and Chechnya.

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Merkel says EU is 'ready to start Brexit negotiations'


Angela Merkel has said she sees no obstacles in the way of beginning Brexit talks as scheduled after Theresa May failed to win a majority in Thursday's UK election.
The German chancellor said she believed Britain would stick to the timetable, adding the European Union was "ready".
Mrs Merkel added she hoped Britain would remain a good partner following the talks, due to begin on 19 June.
It is her first comment since Mrs May's Conservative party lost 13 seats.
The loss left the Conservatives eight MPs short of a majority in parliament, plunging negotiations into uncertainty. Mrs May called the snap election in order to secure a clear mandate for her vision of Brexit.
A spokesman for Mrs Merkel had previously refused to be drawn on the issue out of "politeness and respect" while the process of forming a new UK government was under way.
Mrs May says she will form a government with the Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland, which won 10 seats.
  • Can Theresa May stay as PM?
  • Live updates as May completes team
  • What the election result means for Brexit
  • Brexit delays over UK hung parliament?
  •  
    Mrs Merkel, who is meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss trade, told reporters gathered in Mexico City on Friday: "I assume that Britain, from what I heard from the prime minister today, wants to stick to its negotiating plan.
    "We want to negotiate quickly, we want to stick to the time plan, and so at this point I don't think there is anything to suggest these negotiations cannot start as was agreed."
    Mrs Merkel, the EU's most powerful politician, went on to say she hoped the UK would remain a good partner.
    "Britain is part of Europe, even if it will no longer be part of the European Union."
    However, she added the EU countries would be "asserting the interests of the 27 member states that will make up the European Union in future" during negotiations.


     
    Meanwhile, Michael Fuchs, senior economic adviser to the German chancellor, told the BBC the result meant it was time for Mrs May "to face realities" and soften her approach.
    "Her wish and will was not really too much accepted by the British people," he said. "I have the feeling, because otherwise they would have given her a better vote.
    "Maybe, this is a chance that we can come up to a more reasonable Brexit negotiations because in the last time (recently) I really had the feeling that everything was just being very tough and it doesn't make sense to be tough.
    "We want to have a fair deal with Britain and we want to have a fair final Brexit negotiations."
  • European media see bleak future for May
Other EU leaders have expressed concerns the failure to win a majority may make negotiations even more difficult.
Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who is president of the Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, had caustic words for Mrs May.
Image copyright AFP
 
 "Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated," he tweeted.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, said he wanted discussions to proceed without delay, while Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, said "negotiations should start when UK is ready".
European Council President Donald Tusk alluded to the March 2019 deadline for Brexit talks.
"We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a 'no deal' as result of 'no negotiations'," he wrote.

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Acosta mine: Are coal jobs returning to the US?

At Lisa Maurer's Ford dealership in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, trucks are her bread and butter. When a young person lands his first well-paying job, one of the first things they do is buy a pick-up. The trucks are useful for navigating the rugged Allegheny Mountain terrain and the intense snowy winters.
"It's kind of part of the culture here," says Maurer.
So it was clear to her how bad things had gotten two years ago, when young coal miners she'd sold brand new trucks to just a day or two earlier started bringing them back. At the time, it seemed like a new coal company was declaring bankruptcy every week and the laid-off miners weren't able to make the payments.
But now, for the first time in roughly seven years, a brand new coal mine is opening in Somerset County - the Acosta deep mine, just three miles from Maurer's dealership.
"We're hopeful - it means we're going to have things happening again," she says. "Everybody's excited."
Maurer has deep roots in coal. Her great-great grandfather emigrated from Slovakia to work in the mines, her grandfather and father opened their own mines, and now her 29-year-old son operates machinery in a mine. In 2002, her brother-in-law was one of nine men who were trapped for three days in a flooded mine shaft 240 feet under the ground. Miraculously, they all survived - some even went back to work.


Mining in Somerset County goes back a century and a half. Some of the tiny towns that dot the rolling, lush hillsides have identical houses, built decades earlier by coal companies for their workers. Though the towns are spread out with expanses of farmland separating them, it's a tight-knit community where everyone can feel when times are good for their neighbours or when they are very, very bad.
"Small things impact the economy here … it all swims around," says Tina Buckham, owner of the Flyin' Lion Pub & Eatery in Jennerstown, about five miles from the mine. "Everybody has family that works in coal, honey."
Thanks to a combination of factors, particularly fracking and the low price of natural gas, the coal industry hit a 30-year production low in 2015. Some believe that in addition, the Obama-era climate regulations caused a crisis of confidence in investors. Coal companies started going bankrupt. Mines shut their doors. And the effects rippled through the community - trucking companies laid off their drivers. Two restaurants - local institutions - shuttered. The Maurer dealership changed its inventory from new to more used vehicles.


"It was like a switch was flipped," says Maurer. "The last few years have been really tough and sad. There's a little glimmer of hope now."
The brand new Acosta Coal Mine is a 120-foot-deep rectangle gouged out of a south-facing hillside looking down on the valley below. Near the base is a stripe of jet black coal that the mine's parent company, Corsa Coal, will sell for metallurgical purposes - producing steel - rather than for energy production.
"We're putting a lot of people to work here," says Ben Gardner, the mine engineer, who says at its peak the mine could employ as many as 150 people. "That's 150 families all with a very good job to support them - myself included … It definitely helps for places that were hit by the hard times."
Two days before it's set to open, federal and state inspectors in hard hats take a final look at the operations at the bottom of the pit. A centipede-like piece of equipment called the continuous miner sits silent and still beside them, ready to chew through the coal seam that runs from the mouth of the mine and underground for nearly eight miles. When it's fully operational, Corsa projects the mine will produce 400,000 tonnes of coal a year.
At the lip of the mine is a wooden platform that looks down into the pit, built especially for a cookout and a ribbon-cutting ceremony set to take place on 8 June. There's an American flag nailed to the front, and tucked away underneath, a handwritten poster that reads, "TRUMP TOWER" - someone's idea of a joke, Gardner says.
On 1 June, in an address to the nation from the Rose Garden, President Donald Trump formally announced the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Sandwiched between his criticisms of the deal and other member countries for supposedly cheering the US' "economic disadvantage", Trump made an off-hand comment about Acosta.
"The mines are starting to open up. We're having a big opening in two weeks," he said. "For many, many years, that hasn't happened. They asked me if I'd go. I'm going to try."


Although it's unlikely that the president will make an appearance on that wooden platform, Maurer was surprised and elated when she heard his remark.
"That was huge, everyone was caught off-guard," she says. "We feel like we've been thrown away. Our children don't matter, our grandchildren don't matter. And when Trump mentioned us, that was awesome."
Although the mine has been in the works for years - Corsa Coal obtained its permits in 2013 - the company says investors feel more comfortable putting their money into coal because of new administration.
The mine is projected to hire between 70 to 150 workers - sceptics say that's just a drop in the bucket when you consider the hundreds of lay-offs which took place over the last several years. However, it's also the first bit of good news in the industry that Somerset County residents have received in a long time.
Doug Miller, a controller at James F Barron Trucking which primarily transports coal, says for the first time in years, they're hiring instead of laying drivers off.
"We know we're going to have a future here," he says.
Electrical contractors, cement layers, excavators and lumberyards have already been put to work thanks to the new mine. Proponents are fond of saying that a single mining job creates four others throughout the community - waitresses and gas station attendants, housekeeping staff at the hotels in Somerset and ski instructors at the area's three ski resorts.
But mixed in amongst the optimism are people who've been battered and bruised by layoffs and industry uncertainty, who don't want to rely on the mercurial global markets, or the whims of a presidential administration to dictate whether or not they'll have food on the table.
One coal miner who asked to BBC to omit his name says he was laid off after more than 20 years in the industry and that he would not take a job at the new mine even if they offered it to him.
"I'll move away from here and go do something, I'm not afraid," he says.
He worries for a friend he knows who got one of the new jobs at Acosta.
"I'm really glad he has a job there, he has three, four kids," he says. "But you know, you look him in the eye and he knows he's two pay checks away from everything being gone."
People like restaurant owner Tina Buckham are also sceptical of the idea that there is a great resurgence of the coal industry on the horizon, and nervous about her own razor-thin margins. Although she would love to see all the old mines open up their doors, she's more concerned about the lack of infrastructure in the area - the sole internet provider and the sometimes spotty mobile service. 

We have great, hardworking guys and women - they just want good jobs. So we need to have the infrastructure in place to attract the jobs," she says. "I don't think that the whole community is thinking this is the only thing that we can do here. We can do a lot of stuff because we have a lot of really great people."
And unlike some of the younger people and out-of-work miners who've decided to pick up their roots and seek a better life elsewhere, Somerset County is Buckham's home. She's lived in the area her whole life. Her neighbours as a kid are still her neighbours today.
"I'm here on purpose, in this little town. I like it," she says. "I'm hoping I survive it, but I like it."
Back at the car lot, Maurer is hoping Acosta means good things for her bottom line.
"There's a feeling that things are going to get moving again there are signs that the interest is coming back," she says. She feels "cautiously optimistic" but hasn't made any plans to bring in new inventory or hire more staff.
"To get to where we feel comfortable, we've got to get more than one mine opening," she says.


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London attack: Men 'planned to use 7.5 tonne lorry'

The London Bridge attackers tried to hire a seven-and-a-half tonne lorry to carry out their attack, police say.
But the three men failed to provide payment details and the vehicle was not picked up, prompting them to use a smaller van from a DIY store instead.
The men drove into pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing people in Borough Market seven days ago.
Police said the men tied 12in (30cm) pink ceramic knives to their wrists and had petrol bombs in the van.
Eight people were killed and dozens more were injured in the attack, which began shortly before 22:00 BST on 3 June.
Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba have been named as the attackers, who were all shot dead.
Scotland Yard wants more witnesses to come forward and is also appealing to companies who hire out vans to report any suspicious activity.
Early on Saturday, police said they had arrested a man, 27, on suspicion of preparing terrorists acts, after carrying out a raid in Ilford, east London, linked to the attack.
In its most detailed description of the attack yet, the Metropolitan Police said the men had also rented a flat in Barking, east London, to use as a safe house.
Inside, they found a copy of the Koran opened at a page describing martyrdom.
They also discovered equipment for making petrol bombs, plastic bottles and duct tape for constructing fake suicide bomb belts, and an ID card for Redouane.
Forensic work at this flat has determined that they acted alone.
Image copyright Met Police
 
 The investigation has concluded that 27-year-old Butt was the ringleader. He hired the van used in the attack from a B&Q store in Romford on the morning of the attack.
He is thought to have driven the van, with Redouane and Zaghba in the back, into central London.
At two minutes before 22:00 BST, the van crossed London Bridge heading south. Six minutes later it returned, crossing over the bridge again and making a U-turn at the northern end.
The attack began with the van driving back along the pavements of the bridge, running down three pedestrians before crashing outside the Barrowboy and Banker pub opposite London Bridge station.
The men jumped out clutching the ceramic kitchen knives. Police say the weapons were possibly chosen to prevent them being picked up by metal detectors.
They stabbed five people who had been enjoying the area's pubs and restaurants.


Police were called within two minutes and arrived eight minutes later, killing the attackers in what officers said was an "unprecedented" volley of 46 bullets.
When briefing reporters, Commander Dean Haydon said the police - from the Met and City of London forces - had shown "incredible bravery".
He added: "We have stories of people armed with chairs, bottles, anything they could get their hands on with a view to trying to prevent the attackers coming to pubs and bars but also scaring them off to prevent other people being attacked."
He detailed the actions of four people who put their lives at risk to fight back and help the injured:
  • A doctor at a restaurant heard screaming and "with no regard for his own safety" ran outside to pick up an injured man and carry him across the bridge
  • A public relations consultant heard the van crashing and gave first aid to a man who'd been stabbed - despite the danger
  • A restaurant worker tried to fight off an attacker who came in and stabbed a young woman in the back
  • An off-duty police officer was stabbed in the stomach as he tried to disarm one of the attackers
The massive police investigation into the attack continues and by Saturday there had been 19 arrests and 13 buildings had been searched.
So far, 282 witnesses from 19 countries have been questioned but police still want more people who saw what happened to come forward.
In the back of the white Renault van used in the attack officers found wine bottles filled with a flammable liquid with rags tied to their necks. There were blow torches for lighting these "Molotov cocktails". 

 Image copyright Met Police


 The three men had added bags of building gravel and several chairs - possibly to suggest a reason for having hired the van.
Scotland Yard said it wanted to hear from anyone renting vans who might have suspicions about a customer.
Police are also appealing for information about the "distinctive" pink "Ernesto" brand knives the men were carrying.
They said they had not found evidence of anyone else being involved in the plot - or inspiring the attackers to carry it out.
The Met revealed Butt had been arrested for bank fraud in October 2016 but was not charged. He had been opening accounts and closing them again, possibly to launder money.
Police also confirmed there had been a call about him to an anti-terrorism hotline, but no evidence was gi
However when he appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, The Jihadis Next Door, last year, officers did view the programme. They decided it was "deeply abhorrent" but not evidence of criminality.
Mr Haydon described the current terror alert as "unprecedented times". Since March, there have been five planned attacks of which two were prevented and three carried out - in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge.
"The tempo has increased," he said, adding that officers at Britain's intelligence services were "working flat out".
"Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers" have been added to central London bridges to prevent vehicles being driven onto the pavement.
Meanwhile, police are working with "iconic venues" and music festivals to improve their security over the summer.
ven that he was planning an attack.

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The end of the Anglo-American order?

T bhere has always been a shared conceit at the heart of the special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom that global leadership isest expressed and exerted in English.
More boastful than the Brits, successive US presidents have trumpeted the notion of American exceptionalism.
Prime ministers, in a more understated manner, have also come to believe in British exceptionalism, the idea that Westminster is the mother parliament, and that the UK has a governing model and liberal values that set the global standard for others to follow, not least its former colonies.
In the post-war Anglo-American order those ideas came together. In many ways, it was the product of Anglo-American exceptionalist thinking: the "city upon a hill" meets "this sceptred isle".
Nato, the IMF, the World Bank and the Five Eyes intelligence community all stemmed from the Atlantic Charter signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in August 1941.
The liberalised free trade system that flourished after the war is often called the Anglo-Saxon model. The post-world global architecture, diplomatic, mercantile and financial, was largely an English-speaking construct.
Image copyright Getty Images
 
In recent weeks, however, the Anglo-American order has looked increasingly weak and wobbly. The unexpectedly messy result of the British election makes it look still more fragile, like a historic edifice left tottering in the wake of a major quake.
There is uncertainty in Westminster, and something nearing chaos in Washington because of Russian probe at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Neither Britain nor America can boast strong and stable governments. Neither have the look of global exemplars.
In the six weeks since Theresa May called her snap election, the global tectonic plates have shifted fast, leaving Britain and America increasingly adrift.
Donald Trump, during his first international trip, refused to publicly endorse Article V of the Nato treaty and publicly scolded his allies over financial burden sharing.
He found himself isolated at the G7 summit in Sicily. Then, on his return to Washington, came the announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris agreement, a decision of massive planetary and geopolitical import.
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Here, America First meant America alone, and Trump seemed to revel in his neo-isolationism - as he did when he withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership early in his presidency.
For Britain, the diplomatic impact of Brexit has also become clearer in recent weeks. EU leaders have bluntly outlined how they will set the terms of the divorce settlement, in what looks more and more like a diktat than an amicable separation.
The 26 remaining members of the EU have also made it clear they intend to penalise the UK.
When Jean-Claude Juncker met Theresa May at Downing Street shortly after she called the election, he was evidently dismayed by her approach.
"I'm leaving Downing Street 10 times more sceptical than I was before," the EU Commission president reportedly informed his host.
As one senior EU diplomat put it to me: "Britain has shot itself in one foot. We intend to shoot you in the other."
The British prime minister, by failing to win an election she didn't have to call, has weakened her bargaining position still further. Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has already called the UK election: "Yet another own goal."
Image copyright Reuters  
 
 n recent weeks it is not only the UK's relations with the EU that have become more strained. Its cherished trans-Atlantic alliance has also been subject to some unforeseen stress tests. I never expected to report that Britain would stop sharing sensitive intelligence with the United States, but that was the story we broke in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing.
Then, following the London attack, came Donald Trump's Twitter assault on the London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Again, in the pre-Trump world it would have been unthinkable for a US President to mount such a vicious attack on a British mayor in the wake of a UK terror attack.
Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador in Washington, seemed to capture the public mood when he noted: "Trump makes me puke."
The prime minister steered clear of delivering a stiff public rebuke to the President over his attack on Mayor Khan, presumably out of fear of angering Donald Trump and jeopardising a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
Perhaps this also explained why she didn't join with Germany, France and Italy in signing a joint declaration slamming Trump's Paris decision.
But again that emphasises Britain's weakness. The special relationship has always been an asymmetrical relationship but now it seems even more lop-sided. It speaks of the UK's post-Brexit diplomacy of desperation.
The trans-Atlantic alliance will eventually have to deal with a longer-term problem that will outlast the Trump administration. One of Britain's great uses to Washington in recent decades has been as a bridge to the European Union.
It's why Barack Obama lobbied so hard for a 'remain' vote ahead of last year's referendum. Under future US presidents, it is easy to imagine a German-American alliance supplanting the special relationship.
Voids in global leadership are immediately filled, and we've seen that happen at warp speed over the past few weeks. Brexit has galvanised the European Union. The election of Emmanuel Macron has revitalised the Franco-German alliance, giving it a more youthful and dynamic look. 

Post-Paris, a green alliance has emerged between Beijing and Brussels. More broadly, China sees the chance to extend its sphere of influence, positioning itself on environmental issues as the international pace-setter. Even before Mr Trump took the oath of office, this looked more likely to be the Asian Century rather than a repeat of the American Century.
Europe eyes an enhanced role for itself, too. "We Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands," declared Angela Merkel during a speech in a Bavarian beer hall after the disastrous G7 summit.
In a pointed dig at America and Britain, she also warned that the days when Germany could completely rely on others are "over to a certain extent".
More and more, the German chancellor looks like the leader of the free world, something that would have required a massive leap of imagination in the years immediately after World War II, when the English-speaking liberal global order was taking shape. 


Winston Churchill, during the 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri, in which he coined the phrase "special relationship" (and also the "iron curtain"), noted: "It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement."
Right now, both the United States and the United Kingdom seem to be failing that Churchillian test.
These English-speaking nations no longer speak with such a clarion voice, and the rest of the world no longer takes such heed.
A new world order seems to be emerging that is being articulated in other tongues.

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Trump: I would speak under oath on Comey

US President Donald Trump says he is "100%" willing to speak under oath about his conversations with ex-FBI chief James Comey.
Speaking at the White House, he denied having asked for Mr Comey's loyalty or for an inquiry into a former White House aide to be dropped.
"James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things he said just weren't true," Mr Trump said.
Meanwhile, a congressional panel asked for any tapes of their conversations.
Mr Comey says Mr Trump fired him because of his Russia inquiry.
The former FBI chief was investigating an alleged Kremlin plot to sway last year's US election in favour of Mr Trump, and whether there was any collusion with the president or his campaign staff.
On Thursday, Mr Comey testified to one of several congressional committees that is also looking into the Russia claims.
He said the president had pressured him to drop a probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whom Mr Trump fired for misleading the White House over contacts with Moscow's ambassador.
Under oath, the former FBI director also told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the president had asked him during a one-to-one dinner at the White House to pledge loyalty.
Nearly 20 million US television viewers tuned in to the explosive testimony.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon in the Rose Garden with the visiting president of Romania, Mr Trump rejected Mr Comey's claims.
He said the former FBI director's testimony showed there was "no collusion, no obstruction". Mr Comey told senators he had assured the president he himself was not under scrutiny over Russia.
The US president was asked by a journalist if he would be willing to give his version of events under oath.
"One hundred per cent," Mr Trump said.
"I hardly know the man [Mr Comey]," he said. "I'm not going to say, 'I want you to pledge allegiance.'
"Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? I mean, think of it.
I hardly know the man. It doesn't make sense."
When asked about whether he had recordings of his conversations with Mr Comey, which he has previously hinted, the president said he would address it at a later date.
"I'll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future," he said on Friday. "I'll tell you about it over a short period of time. I'm not hinting at anything."
Shortly after the press conference, leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said they had asked the White House whether there were any such tapes.
The House panel requested that if the recordings exist they be submitted by 23 June.
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the White House last month about such audio.
Days after he fired Mr Comey on 9 May, Mr Trump tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Friday he felt "complete vindication" after the hearing.
Mr Comey also told senators that he had leaked details of his memos about his conversations with Mr Trump to a friend, who passed them on to a reporter.
After the testimony, Mr Trump's lawyer accused the former FBI chief of having divulged "privileged communications".

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