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I absolutely think the people in that room were breathing a sigh of relief compared to last year where there was a bit of a gasp when they turned up to a security conference and got a lecture on values, so it was good to hear that there was still fidelity on the US side in believing that NATO allies could step up, but there's a lot of work to do. I think Rubio as well as Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colby from the Pentagon sent a strong message that the US expects Europe to step up in terms of ramping up its conventional defence and taking a leading role."

Rachel Ellehuus, Director-General of defence think-tank RUSI told me she sees a rift opening up across the continent. One the one hand, you have the Nordic and Baltic nations that are geographically close to Russia, and also Germany and the Netherlands, which are all big defence spenders, she says, whereas in southern Europe, there's Spain, for example, that is absolutely unapologetic about refusing to increase defence budgets to the levels demanded by Donald Trump. France and Britain are both verbally committed to boosting defence spending, says Ellehuus, but are still looking for a "political band aid" to help them explain to voters the trade-offs that will involve - higher taxes, less welfare or more borrowing. "Europeans need to get to work yesterday and to focus," she says. "They have 5-10 years to stand on their own two feet in terms of conventional defence capabilities."