My Davos spy disguised as an Uber Eats driver sent word that this year’s World Economic Forum was rammed ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival. The Alpine resort was heaving with Saudis, Emiratis, AI snake-oil salesmen and US tech titans strongarmed into sponsoring USA House, the official showcase of America’s ‘unity, ingenuity and leadership’ that has its main venue in the town’s English church – ideal for Trump veneration. Attendance was so competitive that the market in fake VIP passes was hotter than precious metals and one African statesman was seen parting with €25,000 in cash for a rented apartment.

But this year’s theme, ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’, looked ironic given the monologue expected from a US President representing the very antithesis of ‘Davos Man’: that archetype of the virtue-signalling attendees who previously worshipped at the feet of Bono and Bill Gates.

Many commentators have argued that the smug liberal elite who bossed Davos a decade ago – and whose last flagbearer is the Canadian leader Mark Carney, fresh from his Washington-defying trade deal with China – fuelled the discontents which brought Trump and his posse to power. But I know which party I’d rather share an overpriced Swiss pizza with. And my man on the ground tips the Ochsen 2 bar on Talstrasse as a locally favoured place to avoid ‘Davos dicks’ of all stripes.

Time to sell the family silver, or........

© The Spectator