ALL relationships have their ups and downs. If everything always went swimmingly, they wouldn’t have to be worked at. And they do have to be worked at. Thus Great Britain and the United States of America. Not just a relationship, but a special relationship, one supposedly a wee bit closer than that between Britain and France, or America and, dare one say, Mexico.

So the script goes. Of late, though, many have questioned whether there really is such a relationship any more or whether it is a figment of the imagination, particularly Britain’s, since the former ruler of an empire arguably needs the coat-tails of today’s big boys more than today’s big boys need a country that can barely control its own backyard never mind an empire.

But that is to forget this special relationship which goes back a long way. Papers put online by the National Library of Scotland reveal the buddy-buddy bond may have its origins, not in 1946 when Winston Churchill coined the term, but in 1796 when a cultured couple from Scotland charmed America back onside after the War of Independence.

That year, Kirkliston-born Robert Liston was appointed British Minister to the US, where he and his wife Henrietta sparked up a friendship with President George Washington and his wife Martha, with whom they dined amiably without anybody throwing the tea about.

Henrietta, whose journals are now online, was a special hit and, between them, the couple repaired relations during a volatile time. Which brings us nicely to Donald Trump. The recently installed US president, though slow to pick up the phone, has held hands with Theresa May. It may not mean much but is less likely to happen with Jeremy Corbyn.

Whether it amounts to anything special remains to be seen. But the relationship between the countries is bigger than the players strutting fretfully upon the world stage at any given time. If it survived tea parties, Suez and Vietnam, it can survive Mr Trump, even if our ministers and ambassadors might benefit from perusing Henrietta’s journals.