For a leader who is under siege at home, travel abroad can offer an alluring escape from domestic woes. When Rishi Sunak flies east this week to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi, he will be glad to put more than 4,000 miles between himself and the cost of living crunch, public services that are falling over and grisly opinion poll ratings. His international peer group will treat him with more courtesy than do many of his own MPs. Performing on what is loosely called “the world stage” will be a salve to the prime minister’s self-esteem.
What else it will achieve is moot. There is little expectation that this G20 will come to much, not least because of the divisions between its western and non-western members about the war in Ukraine. It is being reported that Xi Jinping won’t even turn up, scotching earlier talk from Number 10 of a bilateral between Mr Sunak and China’s leader.
