Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during his final press conference at the G7 summit. Photo / AP
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during his final press conference at the G7 summit. Photo / AP
Editorial
EDITORIAL
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'vebecome 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.
Comments, photographs and videos combine to create a narrative of a summit that takes on a life of its own.
The latest version in sunny seaside Biarritz was no exception.
Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Photo / Getty Imges
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.
Johnson is engaged in a sleight of hand over Brexit, trying to project progress to achieve actual movement. He has two months to convince the EU to give him a new withdrawal deal.
Trump offered help to fight the Amazon fires but US officials referred to climate change as only a "niche" issue and when Trump skipped a discussion on the subject, he was (symbolically) represented by an empty chair.
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 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets Melania Trump as she arrives with President Donald Trump, during the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. Photo / AP
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 high-profile 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 cooperate 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 battle looms next month.
