By then Sean Spicer was a half-hour late. The room was full and impatient.

Behind the rows of chairs a table was weighed down with copies of Spicer’s book, The Briefing. Sales didn’t appear to be terribly brisk.

The former presidential spokesman was in Dublin to promote his tome. Books emerging from and delving into the current White House administration are plentiful at the moment, each promising more salacious detail about the Trumponian organised chaos.

Not this one. Spicer has written to praise Donald Trump, not to bury him. The big question concerned whether he continued to be his master’s voice now he is no longer employed to be so.

The answer at the event, organised by the Institute of International and European Affairs, would appear to be in the affirmative. Over the course of a brisk and well-conducted interview with the economist Dan O’Brien, Spicer demonstrated that he remains a Trump man.

This despite taking issue with the US president on matters such as style and communication.

What he did offer was a cogent briefing on the stark polarisation in America between liberals and conservatives.

“Things simmered for a long time,” he said.

“A lot of Republicans were saying we haven’t had a voice for a long time for a lot of reasons.

“[Now] the focus tends to be who started it, who’s to blame. People talk as if they’re not part of it. If you don’t like the current state of things, help be part of the solution.” 

Spicer wants to be part of the solution. Later, in response to a question, he said he didn’t agree with the idea Trump thrives on division.

He believes the media and social media have played a part in hyping the divisions.

“You can isolate yourself (on social media) to the point where you are only hearing voices that support what you believe, that further those thoughts and blank out the other side. Also on social media you can say things you would never say otherwise and feel that there is no repercussion for it.”

The media, he says, has also compartmentalised, playing to its own respective constituencies at the cost of balance.

He spilled no secrets about his former boss.

Interestingly, he said that the president’s biggest achievement in his first year at the White House was not tax cuts but an appointment to the Supreme Court.

If Spicer is correct in this analysis it suggests that identity politics is rising in relevance compared to economic prosperity.

Spicer is still his boss’ voice when it comes to trade. Trump’s refrain that the US, the biggest trading, military, and economic power in the world, has been treated unfairly in trade deals is one which Spicer echoes.

He did concede that in his old job, the boss presented him with many challenges, not least the tendency to communicate off the cuff.

“There is nobody who has the ability to message like he does,” said Spicer.

“A normal candidate, if you were to have a rally in Columbus, Ohio, you would have ads running on radio and TV, you would spend boatloads of money to create a crowd.

“Trump sends out a tweet and people are lining up around the block.” 

Far more revealing than anything he had to say about his former boss was Spicer’s demeanour in public. In the dog days of early 2017, his briefings on behalf of the president had become something of a source of global amusement.

The press officer fumbled and wilted under the complete chaos informing the early days of the Trump White House.

He became a joke figure, particularly after his portrayals on Saturday Night Live.

Yesterday in Dublin, Spicer came across as a relaxed, articulate, and informed political operative, at ease in a room that was most likely hostile to the administration he served.

Asked at the conclusion whether he ever misses the job, Spicer simply replied, “No… I was honoured and privileged to do that job but there’s not a single day I look back.”