Boris Johnson took another cultural risk today.

Fresh from warning the Italians about post-Brexit prosecco sales and talking booze in a Sikh temple, the Foreign Secretary thought he’d try one out on the Māoris.

During a visit to Kaikoura in New Zealand he compared a traditional greeting called a hongi – in which people press their noses together – to a headbutt. Never one to pass up the opportunity to offend somebody,

Johnson quipped: “I think it’s a beautiful form of introduction, though it might be misinterpreted in a pub in Glasgow.” He did earn some brownie points, however, by saying New Zealand was the “most mind-blowingly, mind-numbingly beautiful country”.

National media branded him the eccentric “flamboyant, blonde tousled-haired former mayor of London” – so it sounds like the locals were well-briefed.