The prime minister’s appointment with President Donald Trump, a wildly unpredictable showman of very different political hue, could so easily have been awkward, even excruciating.

But it wasn’t.

As the Downing Street team return to the UK, they are happy with how it went.

For some time senior figures were confident they had built a good rapport with Trump.

They had hoped too that his love of the UK and the depth of the long standing ties between the two countries would stand them in good stead – but they couldn’t be certain.

Of course they couldn’t be certain, because barely anyone ever can be with Trump.

I have been to the White House a handful of times before, but I have never been on a visit like this one.

Under President Joe Biden, us reporters would be invited into the Oval Office and then shown out minutes after we were shown in.

But Trump, as the BBC’s state department correspondent Tom Bateman described it to me when I arrived, is currently governing by news conference.

He revels in the circus of performance and flurry of questions, his guests perched next to him occasionally chipping in, occasionally affecting a poker face – hoping there will be nothing said to them so outrageous they are forced to publicly contradict him.

LIVE: Latest updates following Starmer-Trump meeting

For Sir Keir Starmer’s visit, Trump cranked up the charm and the warmth.

The prime minister cranked up the superlatives and the compliments – and while not quite matching French President Emmanuel Macron’s backslapping and knee grabbing, he was more tactile than I’ve ever seen him with any other leader.

Starmer leant into the theatricality beloved of his host, brandishing – with some performative flourish – the letter from King Charles inviting the president for another state visit.