POLITICIANS in governing parties often seem to enjoy the diplomatic parts of their jobs. For prime ministers, a foreign junket is a good excuse to escape Westminster, leaving your bickering party colleagues behind you, and making the leader of the opposition look small by stepping out on to the world stage.

You can understand the impulse to ­enjoy the opportunity to rub shoulders with the leading international politicians of the day.

There’s the human interest of ­meeting people you’ve only seen on the telly and the chance to make your own measure of them, discovering the surprisingly tall and the surprisingly short of world ­affairs, the ­historic buildings, the lukewarm ­catering, the strained diplomatic conversations, and the low-level anxiety about the ­international incident you could provoke by getting over-refreshed at the complimentary wine reception.

For the ambitious politician, it must feel like you’ve finally made it. And given how peculiar life is for politicians at the highest level – the constant criticism, the ­comprehensive invasion of your private life, the permanent stresses and demands you sign up for – I reckon there must be a sneaking kind of solidarity between some of these international figures, who may come from different countries and ­political ­traditions and speak different languages, but share the same strange vocation and know only too well the pressures one ­another experience.

Boris' trips

Not everyone can carry off the sober global statesman routine, of course – Boris Johnson’s trips seemed mainly ­designed to disgrace the reputation of British ­tailoring.

In recent years, others have used their taxpayer-funded foreign visits to curate their Instagram profiles (Liz Truss™), to generate painful memes about their social awkwardness in a range of ­ambassadorial contexts (here’s looking at you, Theresa May), or have just seized the opportunity to be ostentatiously rude to foreigners for ­domestic consumption.

But what about the kind of diplomacy which doesn’t fly you to a sunny clime or ­allow you to hobnob with international celebrities?

Last week, the British-Irish Council met in Edinburgh. Its membership consists of the Scottish, Welsh, and UK Governments, but also the Irish........

© Herald Scotland