There’s one big problem for Britain-Germany relations … Northern Ireland

“Every German chancellor of any coalition would say, ‘let’s fix this Brexit and trade issue and come to a stable and trustworthy relationship and then we can talk,’" said Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think tank. "So the best the UK can do to improve the relationship with Germany is to fix the conflict with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol.”

“If anything, Brexit has reinforced the tendency of German parties to agree on the EU, because Britain’s exit has meant that Germany is even more in the position of compromise seeker,” he added.

Odendahl believes the increasing assertiveness of Russia, China and Turkey offers an opportunity for an improved relationship between Britain and Germany.

“The most constructive Britain is on the foreign and security policy side, the better the relationship will be, because that’s one of the issues that Germany’s unsure how to deal with and fix,” he said. “This is where Germany’s concerns are and where London has quite a bit to offer.”