The US president has done plenty to annoy Britain. His support for Ukraine has been patchy, he’s whittled down the US commitment to Nato and hit the UK with costly tariffs. Some ally. He’s also brutally and publicly humiliated PM Sir Keir Starmer, although he’s hardly alone in that. And he’s never hidden his low opinion of energy secretary Ed Miliband. Although again, he’s not the only one.

Trump loathes Miliband’s net zero obsession, can’t stand wind turbines and thinks banning new North Sea drilling is economic vandalism. Last year he called the North Sea a “treasure chest” and urged Britain to “Incentivize the drillers, FAST”. Miliband, naturally, ignored him. That’s hardly surprising. Miliband never listens to anybody.

His lunatic net zero charge involves throwing hundreds of billions at wind turbines, solar panels and unproven carbon capture and storage technology, while shutting down Britain’s own oil and gas industry. He’s also slammed British oil giant BP as immoral while buying fuel from Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin. In Scottish oil city Aberdeen his name is mud. He’s equally reviled by households and businesses who have been lumbered with some of the highest energy costs in the developed world, despite Miliband’s laughable pledge to cut bills.

Even Labour-backing unions have had enough, with Unite’s Sharon Graham calling his policies an “absolute disaster zone”. Yet incredibly, Miliband is clear frontrunner to become chancellor once Andy Burnham takes over as PM. I’ve written before that he would be a total catastrophe. Miliband doesn’t answer to anybody except his own ego. If Burnham handed him the Treasury, he’d run amok.

The problem is, Burnham owes Miliband. He helped clear his path to Number 10, so he’ll expect one of the biggest jobs in government. Incredibly, plenty in Labour think he’d make a brilliant chancellor. In reality, they haven’t got a clue about finance, and neither does he. They don’t understand that to spend money, you have to earn it first.

It’s not just critics on the right sounding the alarm. Green energy tycoon Dale Vince has just branded Miliband unfit to become chancellor. Vince has questioned Miliband’s fundamental “economic competence” and even his grasp of “the basic notion of value for money” as he sprays taxpayer’s hard-earned money at his pet projects. And this is the man Burnham wants to run the nation’s money.

Washington can sense disaster too. Senior officials in Trump’s administration are urgently warning that making Miliband chancellor would be a huge mistake, according to The Times. They believe his ban on new North Sea licences is “ideologically driven” and argue the extra tax revenues could help fund Britain’s defence. On that, they’re absolutely right.

Once again, people-pleaser Burnham has another impossible choice. He can either please the White House or please Labour’s activists. He can’t do both. This time, he should forget about pleasing anybody and simply do what’s right.

That means keeping Ed Miliband well away from Number 11, where he’d wreak havoc. Perhaps he could make him US ambassador instead. The Yanks would know exactly what to do with him.