Something deeply unfortunate is happening to the Prime Minister on the world stage. Instead of growing and accumulating gravitas nine months into the job, Rishi Sunak is shrinking in political stature. From global warming to Ukraine, one after the other on issues his predecessor carved out a big place for Britain, the Prime Minister has deliberately shrunk himself and the country’s role. He has frittered away a good hand.
This is disappointing for the Conservative Party because Sunak really did spark a lot of interest internationally when he was first appointed premier. Boris Johnson, with the lingering bruises and bitterness from Brexit, was deeply disliked in certain European capitals and a few pockets of the White House.
Sunak seemed like a breath of fresh air, a solid manager and a respectable and respectful captain for a Britain that appeared to them adrift.
This gave him a real opportunity to make something internationally of the two areas Johnson’s premiership had been a success: global climate talks, which Britain hosted at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, and Ukraine, where championing President Volodymyr Zelensky and daring to send the right stuff at the right time had made him a national hero to millions of Ukrainians. Even better, Sunak had one thing that Johnson — whose much delayed visit to India was marred by partygate — never had. Both a South Asian heritage and high-powered billionaire Indian family who could help him reset Britain’s relationship with New Delhi for the 21st century and unlock long frustrated potential.
The PM initially seemed like a breath of fresh air, a respectable captain for Britain
Unfortunately nothing has happened with India. Nobody, I can confirm, talks much about Sunak in Kyiv. The Prime Minister has not followed his predecessor in attempting to loudly lead the pack when it comes to arms transfers. The impression in foreign ministries across the alliance is that he simply isn’t much interested and they would be right.
The Prime Minister lacks a passion for Ukraine’s fight — which means he is less likely than his predecessor to challenge Western allies to give more. Overall, he calls, visits and pushes to speak on the issue with international partners less.
This is disappointing because over the current frontlines, the questions of arming a new offensive, security ties, reconstruction and Ukraine’s ties to Nato are all up for grabs.
The second Sunak retreat is when it comes to climate change. Johnson made his commitment to net zero and the environment a signature part of his international politics. He viewed the UK’s handling of COP26 as a major achievement and grasped that net zero was not just the international equivalent of a painful but necessary weight loss target — which is how Sunak talks about it — but a new industrial revolution. The results of which would decide which countries dominate the supply chains of the vehicles and energy of tomorrow.
The Prime Minister’s failure to grasp the centrality of this agenda caused the first major U-turn of his time in office, when he initially did not even want to attend the follow-on COP. Recent green-bashing by the Prime Minister — he has not deviated from net zero — is one. Worse is that he has failed to launch an industrial policy response to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or the EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP.) He will arrive at the next COP in the United Arab Emirates a smaller figure than he could have been.
The only real success Sunak has had on foreign policy is the Windsor Framework deal over the Brexit loose ends in Northern Ireland with the EU. However, he has failed to capitalise on that in any meaningful way in seeking the serious changes to the trade, mobility, financial or foreign policy co-ordination aspects to Johnson’s botched deal with the bloc that the UK needs.
European leaders want, especially when it comes to foreign policy and security, as recently voiced by Michel Barnier, to sign a new foreign policy treaty with the UK, which would in no way impact British sovereignty and turn a new leaf for mutual ties.
But those same leaders, sadly, think that Sunak has shrunk in authority as national polls point to defeat. They have little expectation of any new deals and nor do they think he will be around for long.
It is a shame that Britain, at such a frightening moment in geopolitics, has a vacant Prime Minister interested in making announcements about chess instead of shaping world events. The loser of this kind of myopia, from Ukraine to the climate — is British influence.
