Davos was back with a bang this week for the first full-scale winter conference since the pandemic. And yet, the occasion marked something more significant than just a week of power breakfasts and champagne receptions. ‘Davos Man’ is back in charge of the global economy – and for better or worse everyone better get used to it.
The Davos consensus is typically smug, self-satisfied and complacent as its many critics never tire of pointing out
Sir Keir Starmer flew in to pitch his pro-business plans for the government everyone expects him to lead in a couple of years. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was there to explain how his country was finally helping Ukraine, the president of the EU Ursula von der Leyen showed up to criticise the US and the Chinese vice-premier Liu He pitched up to signal a rapprochement with the West. The leaders of the International Monetary Fund were all there, and so were the bosses of the major central banks, just about every CEO and banker of any consequence, along with a sprinkling of celebrities to say something platitudinous about climate change and inequality.
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