Rishi Sunak needs to leverage trust on world stage to win over public back home

Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2023

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The prime minister arrived back in Downing Street at 2am on Wednesday morning after a dash to the Council of Europe summit in Iceland to seek more support from European allies on illegal migration.

Seven hours later, Rishi Sunak was back in the air heading to the G7 summit in Japan.

In the plane huddle with journalists shortly after take-off – clutching a Number 10-branded mug of tea – the PM was in good spirits as he spoke of the importance of using this round of global talks with world leaders to discuss driving economic growth, support for Ukraine and presenting a united front on China.

Swapping his typical suit and tie for an unbuttoned white shirt and blue chinos, Mr Sunak appeared relaxed in the midst of an intense week.

But make no mistake about it, this is a leader under intense pressure.

Faced with his first test at the ballot box since becoming leader, the PM has failed.

Seat losses exceeded the Conservatives’ worst nightmare with 1,063 councillors gone, and the projected national vote share is bumping along the Tories’ worst ever performance at local elections – putting Sir Keir Starmer and Labour into Downing Street.

And now, the dissent is beginning to bubble up as colleagues, faced with the prospect of electoral oblivion, lash out.

Speaking at the Conservative Democratic Organisation conference, Priti Patel told activists that “leadership errors cost us dearly in the local elections”, as she pointedly praised Boris Johnson.

Meanwhile, on the eve of Mr Sunak’s trip to the G7, his predecessor Liz Truss has turned up in Taiwan to reiterate her view that the threat of China is being underplayed by the UK government.

Shadow-boxing on foreign policy and doing it in a territory of such sensitivity to Beijing is unhelpful, to say the least (although one government observer gave a little punch back, remarking that a visit from Ms Truss was “not as significant as Nancy Pelosi”).

If the pressure is getting him, the prime minister did a good job of hiding it in the press huddle.

When it came to Ms Truss’ visit, Mr Sunak said he hadn’t “seen the details” of her trip as he reiterated the government position as being “completely aligned in substance and in language with all our allies” when it came to Taiwan.

“We have a very strong, unofficial relationship with Taiwan as our allies do,” he added. “I think that our position is united and aligned with our allies, and will continue.”

But in the backdrop of this summit, there isn’t quite a united front from the G7 when it comes to the approach to China.

President Biden has committed to defending Taiwan should China invade, whilst on a trip to China last month, President Macron warned that Europe should not get “caught up in crises that are not ours”.

The hope from the British camp is that the allies can agree China policy is focused on “de-risking” and not “decoupling” – this is European Commission president Ursula von de Leyen’s approach – as a compromise between President Macron’s position and President Biden’s more hawkish angle.

But what the PM really wants to do with this summit – and the Council of Europe summit too – is to get tangible wins back home to push through his five-point plan in the run-up to the general election.

Because economic co-operation on a global stage gives him better hope that he can turn around the UK economy, end the cost of living crisis, halve inflation and bring in tax cuts before the next election.

Meanwhile, agreeing with Ms von der Leyen to develop a new working relationship between their respective border security agencies – this came out of the Reykjavik summit on Tuesday – helps the PM with his pledge to stop small boats crossings and cut down on illegal migration.

Miles behind Labour in the polls – the latest polling has Starmer 17 points in front – winning on the economy and being seen to at least make inroads on the matter of illegal migration is the only hope Mr Sunak has to claw back ground before the next general election, and he seems to genuinely believe there are signs of optimism.

When quizzed about the Institute of Fiscal Studies prediction that the UK’s tax burden won’t get back to pre-COVID levels for decades, the PM clearly thinks the independent think tank is too pessimistic.

“The IFS will make its own estimates,” he said. “What I would say is recently we’ve seen massive upgrades in our growth estimates from the Bank of England and others.

“You can see that in surveys…optimism is increasing, consumer confidence is increasing. On disposable income if you look at the most recent set of numbers, they are hugely outperforming what people thought.”

The PM is convinced that “things are moving in the right direction” and making it very clear, again, that he is a “low-tax Conservative” who “wants to bring people’s taxes down”.

Having reset the UK’s relations with key allies after the difficult Johnson and Truss periods, now Mr Sunak needs to leverage all he can get to bank wins for him back home.

This is a prime minister who is showing on the world stage he is a trusted and well-regarded ally, but he seems further than ever away from sealing the deal with the British public after six months in office, and with time running out.

World

Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine – as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Published

10 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine - as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

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Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

Published

23 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.

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Meredith Kercher’s killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2025

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Meredith Kercher's killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.

Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.

He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.

Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.

Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.

Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.

The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.

The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.