Rishi Sunak offers UK’s allies cause for hope but Tory dangers linger

Without Liz Truss's economic mess there would be no UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. But his inevitable focus on the cleanup job has left allies wondering how he'll handle international issues — and whether his pragmatist, progrowth instincts can beat out the more extreme voices in his party.

There may be an early indication at United Nations talks on climate change next week in Egypt, and at the two-day Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia starting November 15 focused on boosting the global recovery from the pandemic.

Both are the type of geopolitical set-piece where real progress can be elusive, and almost certainly impossible if a world leader opts for a Trumplike stance. According to one diplomat, the world wants Sunak to revert to the steady, dependable, perhaps boring British diplomacy that predates the topsy-turvy Boris Johnson years and his ill-fated successor, Truss.


It's an approach that ought to suit Sunak. But as always in his post-Brexit Conservative Party, much depends on the strength of resistance from Tory hardliners.

Any whiff of Sunak `going soft' on the European Union or on China -- or climate change --is likely to trigger a political headache.