The Tribune

FOR a few days last week it could reasonably have been claimed the centre of international affairs and diplomacy was in England’s southwestern county of Cornwall. Under the annual rotating presidency system of the G7 – the world’s largest advanced economies and wealthiest liberal democracies – the UK had organised the group’s first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the pandemic 18 months ago.

The venue was the well-known summer holiday resort of Carbis Bay on Cornwall’s northern coast that is famed for its fine beaches and surfing against an attractive rural landscape background. The famous Eden Project, which is a futuristic botanical garden, housed inside domes that features the world’s largest indoor rainforest, is in the vicinity.

The meetings were based at the impressive Tregenna Castle resort in the nearby seaside town of St Ives where the world leaders stayed; and the notoriously fickle British weather produced constant sunshine throughout.

The G7 comprises the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and Japan. A delegation of EU leaders attended the meeting and representatives of India, South Africa, Australia were also invited. Russia is now excluded after being expelled from its earlier membership of the then G8 because of its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Inevitably, the issue that dominated discussion was how to recover from the pandemic, with the hope wealthy democracies would commit to sharing large numbers of vaccine shots with struggling poorer countries. But, overall, an important purpose of the meeting was to show the world the richest and advanced democracies can offer an alternative to China’s growing dominance as a leading global power with its military might and as the world’s second-largest economy, as well as being a leader in a range of new technologies.

In seeking to promote peace, prosperity, security and openness, the G7 supports democratic values, the rules-based liberal world order and multilateralism. For Britain, which is trying to reassert its position as an influential global actor following its departure from the European Union, the G7 presidency has provided an opportunity to take the lead on key objectives like tackling climate change as a top priority, supporting sustainable economic recovery following the pandemic and ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

During the course of his remarks at the end of the summit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the G7 had indeed agreed to donate a billion COVID vaccine doses to poorer countries in need, with leaders pledging a combination of jabs and the money to pay for them. The UK had undertaken to provide 100 million doses and the US 500 million. In his words, this was a ‘big step to vaccinating the world’ by the end of next year, though critics say it is still not enough.

He also spoke about the global infrastructure plan unveiled during the meeting by President Biden called ‘build back better for the world’ which was designed to counter China’s ‘belt and road’ initiative. This US plan would bring together G7 nations in developing financing for vital infrastructure in developing countries.

As regards climate change, the Prime Minister stated ‘protecting our planet is the most important thing we as leaders can do for our people’ and that there was a direct relationship between reducing emissions, restoring nature, creating jobs and ensuring economic growth.

He spoke specifically about a commitment by G7 countries to halve their emissions by 2030 on a 2010 base, with the UK already going further by pledging to cut emissions by at least 68 per cent by 2030 on 1990 levels (equal to a 58 per cent reduction on the 2010 level).

He also launched a UK ‘blue planet fund’ to protect the world’s oceans and marine life. He spoke of offering financial support to Pacific Island states to restore coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs; but, without looking at the detail, it is not clear whether this might also be extended to the Caribbean.

Overall, this G7 summit seems to have been the most significant and successful meeting of its kind for years. Reportedly, an official Chinese spokesman has commented that the days when a small group of nations could decide issues of concern to the world are long gone. But, given the economic power of the G7 - with some 60 percent of global net worth - most people will consider such an observation can be largely discounted.

It remains to be seen to what extent the various commitments by countries will be implemented. But, with the next summit on climate change to be held in Scotland as early as November, focus on this issue - together with the momentum for action by governments - is likely to be maintained. Meanwhile, according to reports, US officials consider President Biden’s time spent renewing ties with European allies and restoring multilateral alliances to show that in his words ‘America is back’ - while also pushing them to challenge China’s economic might - has been worth the effort.

One aspect of the G7 that seems to have attracted little publicity is the meeting of the group’s finance ministers in London that preceded the summit. In a lengthy communique, there was, in particular, reference to the need to adopt a global minimum tax and that global implementation of FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards for combatting money laundering and terrorist financing is ‘uneven’. This was followed by a commitment to support the role of ‘FATF-Style Regional Bodies’ in assessing and supporting implementation of FATF standards around the world. As far as The Bahamas is concerned, the conclusion from this must surely be that - despite earlier arguments about sovereignty and resisting demands from the OECD and other inquisitors - there is now really no alternative to abiding by global rules in the financial services sector and that external pressure on international financial centres to comply with global standards will inevitably continue to grow.

A busy weekend, Your Majesty?

Last weekend was a busy one for The Queen. On Friday, she travelled to Cornwall to host a reception for representatives of the G7 nations and those from other countries invited to the summit meeting. The next day she was at Windsor Castle for Trooping the Colour to celebrate her official birthday, and on Sunday she welcomed President Biden and his wife to tea, also at Windsor Castle.

Commentators have been saying Her Majesty ‘stole the show’ at the G7 gathering, having put all concerned at their ease with her charm and ready wit and then participated in an official ‘team photograph’.

On Saturday morning, in bright summer sunshine she marked her first official birthday without Prince Philip by watching a ‘mini’ Trooping the Colour parade of the Household Cavalry which was held at Windsor Castle for the second successive year instead of on Horse Guards Parade in central London where it normally takes place.

Historically, the British monarch’s official birthday is an occasion for the Army’s most prestigious regiments to show their loyalty to the Crown. A parade is held in the monarch’s honour in June because the weather is more likely to be good in the summer than on a monarch’s actual birthday if that happened to be during the winter. This is said to go back to the year 1748 during the reign of George II who was born in November when the weather was considered unlikely to be suitable for a parade – and this tradition has been maintained. The Queen’s real birthday is on 21 April.

She was accompanied on Saturday by her cousin the Duke of Kent who, in his role as Colonel of The Scots Guards, joined her on a dais in the castle’s quadrangle. In a display of military pomp and pageantry, the Guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins and the Household Cavalry in their breast plates and plumed helmets were on parade on the same lawns as for the military ceremony at the time of the funeral service for Prince Philip in April. To conclude the proceedings, the Red Arrows conducted a flypast.

Then, on Sunday, The Queen received President Biden and his wife for afternoon tea. On his first foreign trip since being elected president he had earlier attended the G7 summit in Cornwall. After inspecting a Guard of Honour, he shared a cup of tea with the world’s longest serving head of state and the longest serving British monarch in history, who acceded to the throne on the death of her father King George VI in 1952. This meeting with the representative of the world’s leading superpower will be seen as a symbolic token of a friendship that has been the cornerstone of Britain’s foreign policy for many years – what Boris Johnson describes as an ‘indestructible’ rather than a ‘special’ relationship.

Given The Queen’s long 69-year-old reign, it is perhaps no surprise she has met no less than 12 American presidents before Mr Biden, including John F Kennedy in the 1960s and, twenty years later, Ronald Reagan with whom she shared a love of horses – and they went riding together in the grounds of Windsor Great Park.

Speaking to the press later, President Biden lavished praise on Her Majesty, calling her very gracious and announcing that he had invited her to visit the White House. This was clearly a memorable meeting which had gone particularly well. So is it any wonder that people hail The Queen, in modern parlance, as the government’s ‘secret weapon’ in exercising Britain’s so-called soft power – and all will hope that this may long continue.

A breath of fresh air in TV land?

In this column two weeks ago, I mentioned a proposed new anti-woke television channel in Britain to be called GB News that promised to deliver unbiased news and opinion with an emphasis on free speech and honest debate. It had been described as an antidote to the ‘woke agenda’.

So, what a pleasure it is today to note this new 24-hour news channel was duly launched in London on Sunday evening followed by a breakfast show yesterday morning. It is, of course, too early to pass judgement on it, but the immediate public reaction has been positive with some viewers already calling it ‘a breath of fresh air’.

GB News is the first network of its kind to be established in Britain since 1997. Andrew Neil, the veteran broadcaster, who was one of the most respected political interviewers on the BBC before leaving the organisation last year, is the face and chairman of the new channel.

In a short introduction at Sunday’s launch he said it would concentrate on the ‘stories that matter to you and which the others are neglecting’, covering what he termed the people’s agenda in order to embrace the mood of communities in Britain that feel their voices are not being heard in the mainstream media. He also pledged to ‘tackle the cancel culture’ that was a threat to free speech and democracy, since it was no longer about social justice but about conformity of thinking and stigmatising people.

It is said GB News will shake up the TV news landscape in the UK which is currently dominated by Sky and by the BBC, which increasing numbers of people consider to be biased. But, although it will be a non-stop, opinionated US-style current affairs channel, those in charge of it have gone out of their way to emphasize they do not want it to be compared to Fox News – with Andrew Neil himself saying such comparisons are no more than an ‘easy shorthand for what we are trying to do’ because GB News will not indulge in fake news and conspiracy theories.

This bold new channel is bound to be controversial and there can be no predictions about how it will turn out. But it is, indeed, likely to be a much-needed breath of fresh air.