The reason Ron DeSantis bangs his not very big drum on the big world stage

Even though American voters are supposed to be supremely disinterested in foreign policy

Image generated by DALL-E2 'Ron DeSantis on the world stage'

It says something that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ended his four-nation ‘world tour’ in London (on Friday, April 28). It also says something that after stops in Japan, South Korea and Israel, where he got to meet each head of government, Mr DeSantis arrived in London SW1 knowing there was no chance he would shake UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hand.

The word was that Britain was just sticking to protocol, which doesn’t allow for a UK head of government to meet a mere governor of a US state. But there was another subtext. The British government didn’t want to be seen as taking sides in the Republican presidential campaign, particularly when someone as ill-tempered and unfiltered as Donald Trump is in the race. And especially if Mr Trump were to trump Mr DeSantis and others and win the Republican nomination and, god help us, the US presidency.

So Mr DeSantis had to make do with UK foreign secretary James Cleverly and UK trade…