Rishi Sunak’s publicly declared “working assumption” that the general election will be in the second half of this year tells us three things. He doesn’t think the Conservatives would win if it was held earlier. He’s “got a lot to get on with” and would like to serve as Prime Minister for two full years. His second anniversary in No. 10, Thursday 24 October, might make a convenient polling day. Finally, contrary to rumours, he enjoys the kudos of being Prime Minister and wants more time strutting his stuff on the international stage.

Foreign policy elections don’t happen often. Usually when people go to the polls domestic concerns dominate. Opinions about events abroad have scant impact on how they vote. Prime ministers disregard this and get more interested in foreign affairs the longer they are in office. Who can blame them? At international summits they mingle with world leaders as equals. In the daily grind at home they confront ambitious rivals and political opponents.

Prime ministers think that representing the nation abroad boosts their appeal to voters and leaves their inexperienced opponents looking unfit to take over. However, there is not much evidence that this works, as modest Clement Attlee could have told the Great Winston Churchill as long ago as 1945.

The cost of living and worries about the NHS are already setting the pace this general election year – various polls show they are the main voter concerns. Immigration and stopping the boats are the only international issues near the top of the agenda, but they are about keeping the rest of the world out, not engaging with........

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