The leaders of the G20 countries gathered for the traditional group photograph in Hamburg on Friday. As is usual on such occasions, the pictures were scrutinised for signs of who’s up and who’s down. Angela Merkel, the summit host, stood out in a red jacket and grey trousers amid the ranks of dark-suited men. France’s newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron, was all smiles. In jolly mood, too, were Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Japan’s Shinzo Abe.
In contrast, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey stood grim faced on the far right of the group. Putin always looks miserable on these occasions, standing straight, his shoulders squared, trying to appear taller than he actually is. Xi looked slightly bemused. Behind them hovered Theresa May, with her usual worried look, possibly wondering whether any of these foreign johnnies want a trade deal.
To the surprise of G20 newcomers, Donald Trump was relegated to an outlying position on the extreme left, next to Joko Widodo of Indonesia. Only Macron was closer to the edge. This is because leaders are ranked by seniority, depending on how long they have been in office. Trump seemed unfazed. At least he was in the front row. But the G20 photo is unlikely to be added to his collection of self-admiring snaps in his Trump Tower study.
It is in the nature of modern political leadership that these kind of photo-ops matter. Every picture tells a story in the world of instant, unrelenting 24-hour mainstream and social media. Long gone are the days when Franklin Roosevelt could effectively hide the extent of his physical disability from American voters. Winston Churchill’s drinking on the job would be a big story now. Joseph Stalin secretly purged and murdered millions of Russians but continued as a pin-up for Europe’s Popular Front.
It could not happen today. Modern leaders face constant, invasive scrutiny of almost every aspect of their daily doings and this extreme level of personal surveillance is matched by absurdly high political and public expectations. Take Macron. He only took office in May. So many hopes are pinned on his shoulders. Yet already there are rumblings about his “monarchical” Sun King style and social upheavals if he pursues promised radical labour law reforms. As the gloss wears off, Macron could go from hero to zero in six months.
While most of France hopes he will succeed, most of Britain expects May to fail. Unless the prime minister can somehow change the dynamic, this could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yet misguided though she is on many issues, this daily, demoralising discounting is essentially unfair. May does not act alone. She leads a cabinet and a government with collective responsibility for what happens. And if it all goes wrong, the voters who backed them share responsibility, too. It’s not all about one woman.
Another woman’s career, that of Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor, seems, in contrast, to go on and on. Yet another re-election victory looms in September. Recent headlines suggest Merkel, not Trump, should be viewed as the leader of the western world. Merkel has become, for many, de facto president of Europe and a global standard-bearer for progressive politics. It is a heavy burden. It also a bit silly. Merkel herself rejects the mantle of saviour, and wisely so. It will only lead to disappointment as the wheel inevitably turns. Just look what happened to her eminent predecessor, Helmut Kohl.
If it is true we expect too much of individual political leaders, the corollary may also hold true: that too many leaders, too much of the time, fail to deliver the bare minimum of what is wanted and needed. Instead of posing in front of bussed-in crowds in Warsaw as the champion of western civilisation, as he did last week, Trump could more faithfully fulfil his leadership role by opening unconditional peace talks with North Korea or truly backing Palestinian statehood.
Instead of playing personal power games with Putin in Hamburg, why not jointly plan an end to the Syrian carnage or global action on child poverty? It is high time we weaned ourselves off the deceptive concept of the “strong leader”. True leaders do not need to shout, boast or preen before the cameras. They do not threaten or promise too much. The authentic leader listens, learns, motivates and inspires. They do not have to be in the front row.
