Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said there is a “clear line between appeasement and a peace process” after Donald Trump’s chief negotiator on the Ukraine war described Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian”.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight on Thursday 22 October, Streeting said he understood that people pursuing diplomacy might feel the need to be gracious to the host sitting in front of them. He added that there should be no doubt Vladimir Putin is a cold-blooded killer.
Asked if he was accusing the United States of appeasement, he said: “I’m saying don’t feed the crocodile”.
The phrase refers to a comment Winston Churchill made about neutral nations in the early stages of the Second World War, most commonly cited as “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”.