“This is the first time I have done this, it’s the first time I have been on the plane. It’s my first time in China, too.” And with that Theresa May begins her first full press briefing since entering Number 10.
The high-altitude gathering aboard the prime minister’s RAF Voyager aircraft, en route to the G20 summit in China, is a strange affair in that it is a long way outside her political comfort zone: schmoozing journalists is not Mrs May’s thing. When she pulls the grey curtain back she is faced by more than 20 reporters with tape recorders poised; in a surreal, pub-like scene, she stands on one side of a bar while the mainly male hacks gather on the other.
The pre-summit “chat” is a difficult act to pull off. Journalists try to assume an air of informality while probing for the killer line; the prime minister has to assume an air of informality while trying not to give anything away.