My trips to meet Russians in Russia these days are a little less controversial than my encounter with them in Corfu. The Corfu trip, though, did have the bonus of throwing me together with George Osborne, whom I had not known previously. Returning from St Petersburg I awoke on Saturday to his interview on the Today programme. If the Tories win the next election (unlikely in light of last week’s performance) it will be down to his political skill and determination. And his being joined at the hip to Cameron. If Blair and Brown had managed the same double act, Labour would still be in power today.
The St Petersburg international economic forum was somewhat less international this year. It was held a month earlier than usual so that President Putin’s calendar could fit in a meeting of the G8 in Sochi. Following the illegal annexation of Crimea, the G8 became the G7 and the rest is, well, not quite history.
The Daily Telegraph, alone, took great interest in my participation in Putin’s ‘lackey’ summit.
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