Gorka, who stands at 6ft 3in, has an outsize influence on the "special relationship". When Trump won the US election, Gorka said, Downing Street reached out to him and the White House. He was suspicious at first, fearing that, after all those years of working with Barack Obama, Britain might have a "chip on the shoulder" about the new commander-in-chief. But all they wanted to do, he said, was maintain the special relationship or "even improve it".

"It was as if I was meeting my long-lost cousins," he says, adding: "I’m not trying to make nice to 10 Downing Street, because I have no need to do that." (Speaking of which, I ask if Nigel Farage is more influential in the White House than Downing Street. He pauses. "Look, let’s give Nigel his due. You have to recognise the Brexit phenomenon is a kissing cousin to the Trump phenomenon.")