All western leaders are heavily focused today on what their political and trading strategies should be towards China. But few, if any, have been quite as muddled and inconsistent in their approach as Britain’s David Cameron.

In his first two years as prime minister, he was forthright in his warnings to Beijing about its human rights record. The Chinese expressed distaste for his “finger pointing”. But that did not stop Mr Cameron pressing ahead. Last year he met the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, at a public encounter in London, going a step further than other EU leaders. As a result, China put Britain in the “diplomatic deep freeze”, eschewing top-level government contact.

Alarmed by the potential economic fallout, Mr Cameron this year executed a diplomatic volte-face. The UK recently declared that it was opposed to Tibetan independence. Having made this concession, Mr Cameron is now leading a trade mission of 131 UK business executives to China. Human rights issues are getting barely a look-in. As for the Dalai Lama, Number 10 has “turned a page” in dealing with him.