We can only hope that the bullies feel suitably ashamed of themselves

Donald Trump is a sensitive soul. Shy, humble, diffident, delicate. In many ways, these characteristics are a boon, especially in the field of diplomacy, where Mr Trump’s empathy and tact are widely admired. As is so often the case with those of refined sensibilities, however, his feelings are easily bruised.

Yesterday morning a video circulated online, showing a small group of Mr Trump’s fellow Nato leaders appearing to make gentle fun of him behind his back.

The source of their amusement seemed to be the perhaps somewhat eccentric press conference held by the American president at the Nato summit on Tuesday. “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor!” said Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada. The video was watched by millions across the world. No doubt some men – tougher, hardier, more self-confident men – would have felt able to laugh the footage off. To dismiss it as no more than a joke between friends. Playful banter. Locker room talk.

But not Mr Trump, it seems. Having always taken great care not to cause offence or trample on people’s feelings, he is naturally hurt when others fail to extend the same courtesy to him. Shortly after the video went viral, the president declared that Mr Trudeau was “two-faced”, and that after his final meeting of the day he would be flying straight home to Washington DC, rather than attend his post-summit press conference.

Poor Mr Trump. We can only hope that the bullies reflect on their behaviour, and feel suitably ashamed. In future, they should try picking on someone their own size.

Afterwards, it was left to Boris Johnson to pick up the pieces. As the summit concluded, journalists were keen to ask him about the footage that had wounded Mr Trump so deeply. The Prime Minister, however, appeared mystified. “I don’t know where that’s come from,” he replied, with a frown of bemusement, when a journalist suggested that he didn’t take Mr Trump seriously.

“I really don’t know what’s being referred to here,” he said, when a second journalist broached the subject. Surprising, perhaps, given that in the footage, Mr Johnson was one of the three leaders Mr Trudeau was chatting with.

Several other questions were asked about Mr Trump, but the Prime Minister seemed strangely reluctant to talk about him. When asked whether he thought Mr Trump was a force for good in the world, he talked instead about the importance of the United States in general.

When asked whether he thought Mr Trump was either “an amnesiac or a liar”, he said the question was “extraneous to our dealings here today”. At no point during the press conference, remarkably, did he even refer to Mr Trump by name.

I hope the president won’t take this the wrong way. He is, as we know, a sensitive soul.