London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Nov 07, 2025

G7 leaders meet amid political pressures at home

G7 leaders meet amid political pressures at home

Amid the beauty of the Bavarian mountains and fields, a fundamental truth is immediately striking at this G7 Summit.
When a collection of democracies gather, each national leader is flexing to the political and public mood back home, subtly, sometimes strikingly different from one country to the next.

The G7 has an opponent in Russia, whose leader faces no such democratic pressure, and is acutely savvy about the weaknesses, as he might see them, of the western model of governance.

Amid the security and the choreography, the grip and grin photo ops and the alpine backdrops, the differences of emphasis between the G7 countries, and their desire to project a collective impression to the wider world is worth exploring in turn.

Firstly, those internal differences.

The prime minister, as we know, arrives here with domestic political issues having chased him north from the Commonwealth summit in Rwanda.

It'll probably chase him to the summit of the Nato defence alliance in Spain in a few days too.

He is out of the country for a week, while Conservatives back home from the cabinet speculate privately about his future.

But other leaders face domestic political pressures too.

Take President Emmanuel Macron of France, for instance. A few months after being re-elected as president, he's lost control of the French National Assembly.

The British government feel Germany and in particular France are feeling the domestic political pressure of some of the consequences of the Ukraine war - not least spiralling prices.

After Boris Johnson's meeting with President Macron, Downing Street told us: "The prime minister stressed any attempt to settle the conflict now will only cause enduring instability and give Putin licence to manipulate both sovereign countries and international markets in perpetuity."

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss co-wrote something very similar, with her Ukrainian counterpart, in the Sunday Telegraph.

Publicly, No 10 insists President Macron has done "huge amounts" to support Ukraine, but privately there is concern Paris is losing appetite for the long-term slog of the war, and its costs.

Beyond the internal G7 diplomacy, there are then the efforts being made together to reassure countries beyond the group, some of whom blame western sanctions as much as Russian aggression for rising prices, as my colleague James Landale writes about here.

Argentina, India and South Africa are among the other countries invited here to join discussions.

I'm told that tomorrow a quad of key countries will meet here - the United States, France, Germany and the UK.

Those around the prime minister talk about the need for a "gear change" on sanctions, and they believe the new ones on Russian gold contribute to this, and a "game changer" on military support, which will be talked about more at the Nato summit in Madrid.

Getting there, this week and beyond, will require persuasion and patience. And it comes at a cost.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
On the Road to the Oscars? Meghan Markle to Star in a New Film
A Vote Worth a Trillion Dollars: Elon Musk’s Defining Day
AI Researchers Claim Human-Level General Intelligence Is Already Here
President Donald Trump Challenges Nigeria with Military Options Over Alleged Christian Killings
Nancy Pelosi Finally Announces She Will Not Seek Re-Election, Signalling End of Long Congressional Career
UK Pre-Budget Blues and Rate-Cut Concerns Pile Pressure on Pound
ITV Warns of Nine-Per-Cent Drop in Q4 Advertising Revenue Amid Budget Uncertainty
National Grid Posts Slightly Stronger-Than-Expected Half-Year Profit as Regulatory Investments Drive Growth
UK Business Lobby Urges Reeves to Break Tax Pledges and Build Fiscal Headroom
UK to Launch Consultation on Stablecoin Regulation on November 10
UK Savers Rush to Withdraw Pension Cash Ahead of Budget Amid Tax-Change Fears
Massive Spoilers Emerge from MAFS UK 2025: Couple Swaps, Dating App Leaks and Reunion Bombshells
Kurdish-led Crime Network Operates UK Mini-Marts to Exploit Migrants and Sell Illicit Goods
UK Income Tax Hike Could Trigger £1 Billion Cut to Scotland’s Budget, Warns Finance Secretary
Tommy Robinson Acquitted of Terror-related Charge After Phone PIN Dispute
Boris Johnson Condemns Western Support for Hamas at Jewish Community Conference
HII Welcomes UK’s Westley Group to Strengthen AUKUS Submarine Supply Chain
Tragedy in Serbia: Coach Mladen Žižović Collapses During Match and Dies at 44
Diplo Says He Dated Katy Perry — and Justin Trudeau
Dick Cheney, Former U.S. Vice President, Dies at 84
Trump Calls Title Removal of Andrew ‘Tragic Situation’ Amid Royal Fallout
UK Bonds Rally as Chancellor Reeves Briefs Markets Ahead of November Budget
UK Report Backs Generational Smoking Ban Ahead of Tobacco & Vapes Bill Review
UK’s Domino’s Pizza Group Reports Modest Like-for-Like Sales Growth in Q3
UK Supplies Additional Storm Shadow Missiles to Ukraine as Trump Alleges Russian Underground Nuclear Tests
High-Profile Broodmare Puca Sells for Five Million Dollars at Fasig-Tipton ‘Night of the Stars’
Wilt Chamberlain’s One-of-a-Kind ‘Searcher 1’ Supercar Heads to Auction
Erling Haaland’s Remarkable Run: 13 Premier League Goals in 10 Matches and Eyes on History
UK Labour Peer Warns of Emerging ‘Constituency for Hating Jews’ in Britain
UK Home Secretary Admits Loss of Border Control, Warns Public Trust at Risk
President Trump Expresses Sympathy for UK Royal Family After Title Stripping of Prince Andrew
Former Prince Andrew to Lose His Last Military Title as King Charles Moves to End His Public Role
King Charles Relocates Andrew to Sandringham Estate and Strips Titles Amid Epstein Fallout
Two Arrested After Mass Stabbing on UK Train Leaves Ten Hospitalised
Glamour UK Says ‘Stay Mad Jo x’ After Really Big Rowling Backlash
Former Prince Prince Andrew Faces Possible U.S. Congressional Appearance Over Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
UK Faces £20 Billion Productivity Shortfall as Brexit’s Impact Deepens
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Eyes New Council-Tax Bands for High-Value Homes
UK Braces for Major Storm with Snow, Heavy Rain and Winds as High as 769 Miles Wide
U.S. Secures Key Southeast Asia Agreements to Reshape Rare Earth Supply Chains
US and China Agree One-Year Trade Truce After Trump-Xi Talks
BYD Profit Falls 33 % as Chinese EV Maker Doubles Down on Overseas Markets
US Philanthropists Shift Hundreds of Millions to UK to Evade Regulatory Uncertainty in Trump Era
Israeli Energy Minister Delays $35 Billion Gas Export Agreement with Egypt
King Charles Strips Prince Andrew of Titles and Royal Residence
Trump–Putin Budapest Summit Cancelled After Moscow Memo Raises Conditions for Ukraine Talks
Amazon Shares Soar 11% as Cloud Business Hits Fastest Growth Since 2022
Credit Markets Flooded with More Than $200 Billion of AI-Linked Debt Issuance
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Says China Made 'a Real Mistake' by Threatening Rare-Earth Exports
Report Claims Nearly Two Billion Dollars in Foreign Charity Funds Flowed into U.S. Advocacy Groups
×