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The Anglo-American “Special Relationship” is not merely in crisis. It is practically on life-support. The crisis was precipitated last weekend, when the journalist Isabel Oakeshott revealed

secret cables by our man in Washington in the _Mail on Sunday_. But what began as an embarrassment for Sir Kim Darroch and the Foreign Office now threatens to become a transatlantic rupture.

  Having discovered just how unflatteringly he has been portrayed for the past three years by an envoy whom he appears never to have met, President Trump has now severed relations with Sir

Kim. “I do not know the ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the US,” he tweeted.  That judgement alone would be damning enough. But it gets worse: “We will no longer

deal with him.” So the British Ambassador in Washington is now officially _persona non grata _in the White House. Such a thing has not happened for more than 150 years.  There is a certain

poetic justice in Trump’s gaffe in his Fourth of July speech last week, when he claimed that the American Revolutionary Army “took over the airports” during the War of Independence. It was a

reminder that Americans founded their great nation by rebelling against the British. Old enmities lie just below the surface. Unless something happens quickly to restore Anglo-American

relations, a false narrative may take root in the United States. An entire mythology could be spun around what was really just an old-fashioned journalistic scoop. What needs to happen now?

First and foremost, Sir Kim should offer his resignation immediately. Even if he does not, he must be recalled much sooner than next February, when he was due to hand over anyway. Theresa

May can and should announce that Sir Kim will return this summer as soon as a successor can be found. But that appointment is for _her _successor — presumably Boris Johnson — to make. The

new Ambassador needs to be cut from a very different cloth. Sir Kim, who has spent most of his career in European capitals, not only did not warm to the Trump administration but, on the

evidence of his published despatches, clearly never understood it. Britain needs a special kind of ambassador to repair a special relationship that has gone sour. The new Prime Minister

needs to act quickly and decisively. That means looking beyond the ranks of the active Diplomatic Service. There are precedents for such appointments. When Margaret Thatcher became Prime

Minister in 1979, she inherited a Washington Ambassador, Peter Jay, who had been a journalist rather than a career diplomat. She offered the job to Edward Heath, a former Prime Minister and

her bitterest rival. When Heath refused, she appointed Sir Nicholas (“Nico”) Henderson, who was a distinguished diplomat but had already retired. He already knew the incoming President,

Ronald Reagan, and this helped to build an unusually close partnership with Mrs Thatcher. Who would fit the bill today? Nigel Farage, who is probably closest to Trump both personally and

ideologically, has ruled himself out. Three years ago he might indeed have made a “great ambassador”, as Trump tweeted at the time. But now he leads the Brexit Party and is unlikely to do

Boris the favour of decapitating his own creation. What about an elder statesman? The former Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leader Lord Hague, has the seniority and tact for the

role. Whether he would be tempted to abandon his life over here is another matter.  A more likely appointment would be an active politician. Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, has

more or less applied for the job by offering a semi-official apology to the President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. Fox has a record of close relationships with Republican Presidents that goes

back to the Reagan era. As an ardent Brexiteer, he would be unpopular with the Foreign Office, but would have clout in Downing Street.  Boris Johnson might also follow the example of Winston

Churchill. No sooner had he entered Downing Street, having outmanoeuvred Lord Halifax, than he asked his rival to serve in Washington. Bringing the US out of isolationism and into the war

was a vital task. It was an offer that Halifax could hardly refuse.  In the present situation, the part of Halifax is played by Jeremy Hunt. We know that Trump likes “Jeremy” because he said

so during his recent state visit here. And once Boris is installed at Number Ten, he will need a Foreign Secretary who shares his vision of post-Brexit Britain. So Hunt will have to go.

Where better to serve Queen and country, in time of national crisis, than in Washington? Step forward, Ambassador Hunt.