Johnson deftly treads G7 waters
Group of 7 summits in the social media era have a way of temporarily reducing leaders and politics to the level of an exclusive poolside barbecue for the rich and powerful. The rest of us get to peer at the spectacle of rivalries, policy, pettiness, gossip and spin.
We’ve become so used to high-end weirdness — from talk of the US buying Greenland to nuking hurricanes — that it’s easy to slip down some strange rabbit holes.
The latest version in sunny seaside Biarritz was no exception.
Summit host, French President Emmanuel Macron, showed some fancy footwork on the Amazon fires and Iran while thwarting US President Donald Trump on Russia. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was caught on a mic praising Macron with the French phrase for “well played”.
Distracted by his tariff war with China and trying to get Russian President Vladimir Putin re-admitted to the rich nations’ club, Trump was surprisingly low key — when he wasn’t talking up his own Doral resort in Florida as the site of the next G7 summit.
Trump offered help to fight the Amazon fires but US officials referred to climate change as only a “niche” issue. Somehow, even questions of saving the rainforest became entwined in a subplot over powerful couples with large age gaps. France’s young leader was furious at reports Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had insulted Macron’s older wife, Brigitte. Melania Trump was snapped enjoying the charms of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison became a meme when he looked at his mobile as other leaders talked and walked around him.
Johnson made the biggest impression considering the tightrope he walks with the EU, US and British MPs over Brexit.
His predecessor Theresa May used to look weighed down with the burden of Brexit at highprofile gatherings. After years of May perching awkwardly on the edge of conversations, Johnson made himself fit in, taking the European side on various issues. He showed that Britain would be able to co-operate and contribute beyond Brexit.
On tariffs, he disarmed Trump with: “Just to register the faint, sheeplike note of our view on the trade war, we’re in favour of trade peace on the whole, and dialling it down if we can.”
Johnson is engaged in a sleight of hand over Brexit, trying to project progress in order to achieve actual movement. He has two months to convince the EU to give him a new withdrawal deal.
But his method is deeply controversial — based on the madness of being prepared to jump off the Brexit cliff on October 31 without a deal. Experts say economic pain would follow. At home, most MPs are against a no-deal Brexit and the battle looms next month.
At Biarritz, Johnson swam out to a rock to deliver a Brexit metaphor: “There is a way through, but you can’t find the way through if you just sit on the beach.”