The G7 summit is the biggest test so far of Boris Johnson’s ‘Global Britain’ vision

So far, the prime minister seems to be in his element at the gathering of the world’s richest countries – the event plays to his strengths, writes Andrew Grice

‘Johnson’s top priority will always be his domestic audience rather than the global stage’ (PA)

It’s a good job Silvio Berlusconi is no longer Italy’s prime minister while the G7 summit takes place in Cornwall. After David Cameron, the new kid on the world block, went wild swimming in an Ontario lake at his first global summit in 2010, an upstaged Berlusconi showed his horrified fellow leaders photos of him swimming in his tight-fitting Speedos.

At a Paris summit during the 2008 financial crisis, Berlusconi branded counterparts including Gordon Brown “amateurs” – not because of their proposals, but because they had not brought a make-up artist with them for their TV appearances. The former Italian prime minister would surely have been unable to resist the lure of the beautiful Cornwall beaches that dominate our TV screens this weekend – after having his make-up applied, of course.

Boris Johnson had a dip early on Thursday morning, thankfully before the cameras arrived. So far, the prime minister seems to be in his element at the gathering of the world’s richest countries. The event plays to his strengths: bonhomie, bouncy optimism and getting on with people, using his natural humour to oil the diplomatic wheels.

Personal chemistry matters at G7 summits. They are more informal than other international meetings, when scores of officials can be in the room and can pass notes to their leader. At the G7, prime ministers and presidents are usually on their own, while often anxious aides listen to an audio feed. There are plenty of opportunities to raise issues not on the formal agenda; that is when Johnson will come under pressure from EU leaders over the Northern Ireland protocol.

I attended my first G7 in 1987 (Venice, since you ask). As a callow Westminster hack in a huddle with five others, I unexpectedly found myself nervously asking Margaret Thatcher questions against a canal backdrop that rivalled Carbis Bay. Sometimes these meetings are talking shops with very little follow-up, a chance for leaders to chew the fat and approve long, waffly communiques pre-cooked by their officials. Some made-for-headline promises made are quietly forgotten afterwards.

However, these gatherings do matter when momentous events are happening. Fortunately for Johnson, the Cornwall summit is definitely in this category. The leaders are discussing a global vaccine programme; economic recovery after the pandemic; climate change; and are relaunching the G7 as a group of democracies, including a re-engaged post-Trump America, ready to stand up to China and Russia.

The summit also matters because it is Global Britain’s first test on the world stage. Johnson promised us a new definition of the “special relationship” between the UK and US but his “indestructible relationship” doesn’t really cut it. I’m afraid the first thing that came to my mind was the theme tune of a children’s animated TV programme: “Captain Scarlet – indestructible.”

While Johnson sees an unbreakable platform for future co-operation based on shared values, “indestructible” – like “special” – harks back to a better yesterday. Global Britain will not be judged by the country’s past glories but its actions in future. It will need to earn a continuing place in the global premier league by what it does, not by looking back to a war that ended 76 years ago.

Johnson also needs to mind the gap between his announcements in Cornwall and his government’s record. His promise to send 100 million vaccines to poor countries is welcome but only 5 million will be provided by September. Aid groups fear a rush of donations at the end of this year which developing countries will not be able to deliver. The G7 is likely to pledge only 1 billion of the estimated 11 billion vaccines needed. At some point they will also need to stump up billions to ensure their surplus vaccines reach people’s arms.

Johnson pledged £430m to help get the world’s most vulnerable children into school, and yet girls’ education has been one of the losers in the government’s £4bn cuts to overseas aid.

Johnson’s top priority will always be his domestic audience rather than the global stage. Treasury ministers told Tory backbenchers who oppose the aid cut this week that 81 per cent of voters in the red wall do not approve of spending taxpayers’ money overseas.

However, that isn’t the whole picture. Johnson should take note of a new Ipsos MORI poll for the BBC. The number of people who think Britain is a force for good in the world has dropped from 59 per cent to 49 per cent since 2019, and the public is evenly split over whether it should “stop pretending to be an important power in the world”. Although 40 per cent believe the UK will play an important role in 20 years’ time, 26 per cent do not.

Overall, people want Global Britain to succeed, but are not sure it will. Strikingly, their views on this are heavily shaped by their party allegiance, which suggests that Johnson has not achieved his goal of bringing the country back together after Brexit. A perpetual state of war with the EU hardly helps.