There are times for every prime minister when the call of world affairs provides welcome respite from troubles closer to home.
So at the end of another difficult week for Rishi Sunak there could be no better place to get away from the punishing general election campaign than Puglia, and the cheery welcome of his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni.
Despite their political differences – Meloni, 47, is well to the right of Sunak, 44 – they have hit it off since their first meeting in 2022. They have plenty in common, having come to power within three days of each other, they are a similar age and are clearly at ease in each other’s company.
First encounter as world leaders
November 2022
As newbies at the Cop27 environmental summit of world leaders in November 2022, Sunak and Meloni had no trouble finding common ground at their first meeting as prime ministers in Egypt.
During a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, they discussed plans to tackle illegal migration and the war in Ukraine, and seemed to share a sense of humour as well as similar career paths.
Their backgrounds, however, could not be more different: Sunak went to a public school, then worked for an investment bank before marrying the daughter of a billionaire, while Meloni is a single mother who grew up in a working-class area of Rome after her father walked out on the family.
Meloni’s visit to No 10
April 2023
Meloni gave Sunak a boost during a visit to No 10 in April 2023 when she praised his strategy for tackling illegal migration, saying he was “doing very well” and she agreed with his approach.
Sunak had reason to be grateful to Meloni, as the EU, of which Italy remains a leading member, does not endorse the plan to send migrants to Rwanda, and the Italian ministry of foreign affairs wanted Meloni to show rather less enthusiasm than she did.
She also described him as a “very strong leader” and said their good working relationship meant a “new beginning” for cooperation between the two countries.
First G7 summit as PMs
May 2023
At the first G7 summit attended by the two prime ministers, Sunak and Meloni were again all smiles as they met in Hiroshima.
On that occasion Meloni had to cut short her visit to the meeting of world leaders, as floods had devastated parts of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy and she had to fly home to coordinate the response.
But Sunak made it clear that immigration would be on the agenda for the Puglia 2024 G7 summit, and his continued endorsem*nt from Meloni helped him to convince the Right-wing of the Conservative Party that he was serious about tackling immigration in the face of increasing net migration to the UK and the continuing problem of small boat crossings.
Sharing a joke in Vilnius
July 2023
Sunak and Meloni were photographed in a fit of giggles as they looked at something on the Italian prime minister’s phone during a Nato summit in Vilnius in July 2023.
Sunak talked of his “friendship” with Meloni and commentators in the UK and Italy started to talk about them developing their own version of the special relationship.
For Meloni, Sunak, the centre-right leader of one of the world’s biggest economies, was becoming a useful ally to temper concerns from Italian voters that she was too Right-wing.
The drinks summit
September 2023
The two leaders joined forces to campaign for a crackdown on illegal migration during the G20 summit in New Delhi, where Sunak suggested there was “growing interest” among European leaders to copy his Rwanda model.
Meloni had promised to block migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean, in a parallel of Sunak’s promise to stop small boats crossing the Channel, and Sunak said he and Meloni had “talked a lot” about how they could cooperate on the issue.
They were photographed deep in conversation while having a drink outside.
Meloni returns to Britain
November 2023
Meloni helped save Sunak from embarrassment by turning up for his Artificial Intelligence summit at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire in November last year – the only G7 leader to do so.
While President Joe Biden sent his vice president Kamala Harris and the likes of Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz skipped the event, Meloni stood next to Sunak for the “family photo” of attendees to give the event an air of gravitas.
Meloni said she was “proud” of her friendship with Sunak, and told him: “Your priorities are also mine.”
Sunak flies to Rome
December 2023
Sunak returned the favour the following month by speaking at a political festival hosted by Meloni in Rome. The event came days after members of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party visited Parliament, and hot on the heels of a trilateral treaty between the UK, Italy and Japan to build stealth fighter aircraft.
Sunak used his speech to warn that asylum seekers could “overwhelm” parts of Europe, which was exactly the sort of message Meloni will have wanted her domestic audience to hear.
The French newspaper Le Monde commented that the two “get on famously well and never miss an opportunity to show it”.
The last meeting?
June 2024
At a G7 summit billed as “six lame ducks and Giorgia Meloni”, the Italian premier greeted a procession of male leaders who might soon be out of a job.
Sunak kissed her on both cheeks as the summit started at the Borgo Egnazia resort, a recreation of an Italian village which has its own Michelin-starred restaurant and is a favourite of the Beckhams.
Meloni, dressed in a pale pink trouser suit, and Sunak put their arms around each other as they posed for an official photograph together. Will it be their last?
