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In the words of the White House, "the Prime Minister stated that the United Kingdom would remain a first rate military power, and remained committed to meeting its responsibilities in Nato". This came in the latest phone call between David Cameron and President Barack Obama.

The US has indeed been concerned about the planned British defence cuts and has been consulted every step of the way. The lines between Washington and London have been burning during the last week, and I would bet that some American generals knew more about what was to be proposed than their British counterparts.

The bottom line was that the US wants to make sure the UK can provide troops quickly to fight alongside the American military and sustain an operation. This is both for operational reasons and political ones, so that in any future engagement the US isn't seen as going it alone.

After that, the US wanted reassurances that Britain wouldn't give up on special forces aircraft carriers, the new joint strike aircraft, special forces, and the hottest and trendiest new area of concern, cyberwarfare.

The fact, I am told, that the cutbacks will be in areas of duplication shows how closely the US has been involved.

There was another concern. Nato countries are meant to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. Few do. Up until now, the UK has been one of the few to keep up to the mark. To fall below this figure would, the Americans believe, have sent quite the wrong signals to other Europeans. On both side of the Atlantic, Big Government has its critics. But Big Defence is sacrosanct.

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