It was a row over the protocol - but for once not that protocol.
Rather than the divisive Brexit treaty, this time the main dispute centred on the diplomatic protocol between neighbouring nations as the Foreign Secretary visited Belfast.
Because James Cleverly had not yet met his Irish government counterpart Micheál Martin, it was argued convention dictated he could not meet Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the opposition in the Republic.
Read more: DUP slammed for 'cherry-picking' health report to attack NI Protocol
The resulting "exclusion" of Ms McDonald from Stormont party talks with the Foreign Secretary overshadowed his trip as Sinn Féin and the SDLP then snubbed the meeting.
Sinn Féin's rise to become the most popular party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic makes navigating such cross-border customs all the more difficult.
But even if there is merit to this diplomacy argument, the UK government surely should have sounded this out well in advance.
Sinn Féin said it was only made aware its party leader would be "excluded" the night before the Erskine House meeting, with Ms McDonald describing the decision as "absolutely bizarre".
Officials should have known Ms McDonald may have wanted to attend and ensured a meeting had taken place with the Tánaiste beforehand.
The mismanagement hands Sinn Féin an easy PR win. The public will likely be disinterested in the diplomatic niceties of engagements between government ministers.
At a time when Stormont has collapsed amid pressures on hospitals, workplace strikes and the cost-of-living crisis, the government may well instead be seen as needlessly petty.
Its statement saying the meeting was "for Northern Ireland politicians" will only fuel nationalist party claims that the British government simply has no understanding of this place.
The round-table meeting should have been a cordial and frankly boring stocktaking exercise in efforts to rebuild relations after a chaotic year of revolving doors at Downing Street.
It was an opportunity to brief Stormont parties on the new UK-EU deal on post-Brexit data-sharing, which has been hailed as a positive step in ongoing talks to resolve the protocol impasse.
Renewing relationships with political leaders here will be vital if the government has any chance of gaining support for a fresh agreement with the European Union on the Irish Sea trade border.
But this latest embarrassing episode will not instill any confidence that the government is capable of brokering a deal and uniting the parties to restore Stormont anytime soon.
Not so clever for Mr Cleverly's big visit.
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