During the latest episode of Brexitcast, the BBC’s political editor raised an eyebrow to claims that Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, didn’t intend to “humiliate” Boris Johnson. She was talking about the recent event which saw Mr Bettel apparently mock the UK’s Prime Minister for not showing up to a joint press conference.

Katya Adler, the BBC’s Europe editor, claimed that in a recent interview with Mr Bettel, he said that he had never intended to “humiliate” Mr Johnson.

Ms Kuenssberg was quick to reply: “Do you believe him when he says that, Katya?”

A video of the interview played which saw Mr Bettel explaining: “We had a situation where I thought we should go and we should speak to the people.

“I wanted us to tell them to have respect and to tell them about Johnson and this was really my goal.”

“When I see that people say I wanted to blame and humiliate I have to say this was really not what we wanted.”

To this, BBC’s Brussels correspondent, Adam Fleming, said he thought: “I do think this is one of those ones where a cock-up has happened.”

Ms Kuenssberg, however, was quick to dismiss any unintentional wrongdoing, seeming stunned by any suggestion that Mr Bettel didn’t know what he was doing.

In response to Mr Fleming’s reasoning, she said: “Oh, I don’t know about that.

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On Monday, Xavier Bettle, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, attempted to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to hold a press conference in a street surrounded by anti-Brexit protestors.

The protestors were so loud as to make it impossible for Mr Johnson to properly conduct himself, leaving the Prime Minister no choice but to abandon the conference.

Mr Vettel’s “empty chairing” of Mr Johnson appeared to cause unease in Brussels and Berlin.

Many European leaders were quick to dismiss Mr Bettel’s actions as not aligning with EU opinion, in an attempt to play-down the act and quell any tensions as a result of the apparent mockery.

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Norbert Röttgen, an ally of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, wrote on Twitter: “Xavier Bettel’s speech yesterday did not serve the European cause.

“His public venting ignored that a deal is still in everyone’s interest.

“Even without a deal there will be a post-Brexit life, which means that right now everyone needs to behave in a way that avoids animosity.”

Several senior diplomatic sources told the Telegraph that it is never acceptable to embarrass a country such as the UK in any given circumstances.

They said an alternative solution to the press conference should have been drawn up in order to allow Mr Johnson a platform to put forward his side and answer questions from the press.

EU sources expressed doubts that a similar farce would have happened in Paris or Berlin.

One diplomatic source told the Telegraph: “I think leaders of bigger countries might not have chosen the Brexit negotiations as a platform to raise their own profile.”

Another confirmed fears that the Luxembourg leaders’ actions might actually help Mr Johnson and bolster support at home.

A source explained: “The main problem is that this only reinforces the ‘them versus us’ narrative that Johnson has used before.”

There was also anger that Mr Bettel’s behaviour overshadowed Mr Johnson’s earlier meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission president.

The meeting seemed to show signs of a landmark turning point, where Mr Johnson offered an olive branch by declaring that negotiations would continue “at high speed” in a bid to build a sense of momentum behind talks before the Oct 31 Brexit deadline.

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