Perhaps delighted to be escaping the Brexit turmoil back home, Liam Fox broke into a broad grin as he exchanged handshakes and warm words with Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem last week. “In a world where the siren calls of protectionism are rising, two free-trade nations like ours need to make the case for global free trade,” the trade secretary told the Israeli prime minister.

The rhetoric was typical of a politician who has racked up hundreds of thousands of air miles over the past two years promoting his vision of “global Britain” — a buccaneering nation unshackled from the EU and free to forge new trade alliances.

Behind Fox’s characteristic ebullience, though, the grand design appears to be on the rocks. The most visible sign