There’s a meme that’s been doing the rounds online of last week’s G7 summit. The seven leaders stand in together for a photo in Apulia, Italy – but emblazoned over each one is their negative approval ratings.

The Italian host, Giorgia Meloni, is doing the best (-10), France’s Emmanuel Macron is in the middle (-31), while Germany’s Olaf Scholz (-51) is narrowly in front of Rishi Sunak who sits bottom of the class (-54). Barring a political miracle, in two weeks’ time Sunak will duly be turfed out by the electorate and Sir Keir Starmer will be installed in 10 Downing Street.

Expect a great deal of buzz to greet him on the world stage. Even before the election, Conservative ministers were having to get used to entering a room only to find the crowd being drawn to their opposite Labour number. International leaders struggling back at home will no doubt like to attach themselves to a story of success in a bid to suggest that they themselves are part of an upward trend. While Starmer’s approval rating is in the negative, a majority of 150 would lead most to assume he will be in power for at least a decade.

It means that Starmer ought to have the space to make some big decisions early on. There have been a few hints of what that might entail. Starmer’s chancellor-to-be Rachel Reeves said on Monday that she would seek closer alignment with the EU on areas such as chemical regulations in a bid to boost the........

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