Working out what a world leader actually means when they deliver public statements has always been core to the art of diplomacy. Traditionally, this has been a subtle art: what does it mean when a president or prime minister who usually says “serious” says “substantial” instead? Does calling a crisis “severe” suggest an escalation versus “acute”?

It is safe to say Donald Trump has changed the game on this front.

So what, then, should the UK Government take from Donald Trump’s decision to liken Sir Keir Starmer to Neville Chamberlain at his Easter Monday press conference? Saying the UK has “a long way to go”, Trump said: “We won’t want another Neville Chamberlain, do we agree? We don’t want Neville Chamberlain.”

It is now the job of the UK’s diplomatic service to work out what the hell Donald Trump thinks he means by this, and how much that matters. Chamberlain was the UK prime minister in the last years before the Second World War, primarily remembered for his policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Most notoriously, Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with........

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