President Zelensky meets Ukrainian troops on the frontline
(Picture: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)Barack Obama, when asked how his foreign policy was different from that of George W Bush, used to like to sum it up this way: “Don’t Do Stupid Shit.” That’s not a phrase that the scrupulously polite Rishi Sunak would ever dream of encouraging his staff to brief out to the press but it neatly sums up what the Prime Minister is trying to do abroad. First, turn off the bombast. Second, stop the feud with France. Third, reassure our allies we’re serious.
So far it appears to be working. Sunak, might be struggling at home but in Europe he is enjoying something of a honeymoon. From Paris to Kyiv, a range of emotions can be detected: from curiosity to relief at how his premiership has begun. Ringing up a set of Europe’s foreign-focused MPs, I was surprised by the common tone. “He’s restored a sense of calm and credibility,” said Benjamin Haddad, an ally of Emmanuel Macron in the French parliament. “The level of support from the UK to Ukraine is on the same level or even higher than it was under Boris Johnson,” said Vitaly Bezgin, a fellow lawmaker in Kyiv.
