Editor's note: Thom Brooks is the dean of the Durham Law School and a professor of Law and Government. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Ambassadors play a vitally-important role for the governments that they represent. Part of their work is to relay their assessment of political leaders elsewhere to support their home government in planning its foreign policy. These communications are strictly confidential and usually encrypted, so they do not become public knowledge.

Last weekend, reports by the UK’s ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch, were leaked in a national newspaper. The reports detailed a White House that was deeply divided and incompetently driven by the poor leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump. Such comments are regularly found in the news media in the U.S., the UK and elsewhere.

The issue was not simply that the UK’s ambassador had such views, but that they were made in secretive reports to the British Prime Minister. This showed that Sir Kim agreed with Trump’s many critics about the dysfunctional administration he oversees.

Predictably, these remarks were met with fierce anger by Trump, who called the ambassador "wacky" in a series of malicious comments on social media that appeared to justify the critical assessments made of him by Sir Kim. Trump then called on the ambassador to resign or be sacked and refused to engage further with him.

Over the last few days, there has been an eerie silence from 10 Downing Street about these events. Theresa May has tried so hard to win American support for a new free trade deal with Britain post-Brexit that she was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House after his election. May also extended a full state visit and banquet with the Queen more quickly than had been given to any other modern U.S. president to help win favor.

Thus far, none of these extraordinary measures of Britain bending over backwards to please the U.S. president has been met with any reciprocity or gratitude. With publication of these remarks, it has all but imperiled any chance of a trade deal the protectionist Trump does not genuinely appear to want.

While Sir Kim’s job would have been made very difficult if shunned by the White House, he was reportedly due to retire by year-end anyway. With a new PM to be appointed shortly, a new team in the UK’s embassy could have been arranged drawing little attention. A key trigger for Sir Kim’s resignation was seeing Tory leadership rival and likely next Prime Minister Boris Johnson refuse to back him in the role.

There are serious consequences moving forward. First, the UK is sending a signal to Washington and the world that it is apparently willing to let Trump – not the prime minister – decide when British ambassadors should be removed from office. This is a further sign of geopolitical weakness that smells of a government desperate to go to almost any lengths to make a trade deal post-Brexit that ironically will damage Britain’s ability to negotiate terms more favorably in the future.

Secondly, the UK’s ambassadors will fear sending frank and genuine assessments to the prime minister for fear they might be hacked. They will also know that if Johnson succeeds in winning the Tory leadership race, he will not stand by them in difficult times. This could be enormously damaging for UK foreign policy in the near term coming at precisely the wrong time as Britain seeks to strengthen its global trading links.

We still do not know how these reports were leaked to the press in the first place. It is crucial that a full police investigation is conducted and prosecutions be administered for any criminal misconduct. Until the source of the leak is found and any appropriate action taken, this one-off event will mark a new low for the UK and its attempt to revitalize its global image.

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