Jeremy Corbyn once wrote that he enjoyed “a takeaway dinner” with Hamas chief Khaled Mahal - and yet he is unwilling to dine with the Queen and President Trump at Buckingham Palace.

His decision to snub a state banquet with the so-called leader of the free world is undoubtedly designed to kowtow to his anti-Trump Corbynista fanbase as much as a reflection of his virulent opposition to US foreign policy.

Arguing it would be wrong to "roll out the red carpet" for the US president, whom he accused of using "racist and misogynist rhetoric", the Labour leader said the US-UK relationship did not need "the pomp and ceremony" of June's state visit.

Yet the virtue-signalling boycott appears even more politically cynical in light of Corbyn’s willingness to meet a string of controversial figures in the past.