Whoever ends up as UK ambassador in Washington will set the tone for a new era

Some would like to see the UK present itself as a nimble commercial competitor to the sluggish EU behemoth

Johnson will want a free marketeer to vouch for the UK’s interests in the US (Getty)

Outsiders might see the tussle over the appointment of a replacement for Sir Kim Darroch as ambassador in Washington as simply an issue of getting the right person for the job.

But in Westminster it is viewed by some as a proxy war over the kind of Britain that will emerge following Brexit.

On the one side is the world of the “global rules-based order” in which the UK gains leverage by its key role in institutions such as the United Nations Security Council, Nato, the Commonwealth and – until now – the European Union.