The joy of Giorgia Meloni

There are not, as far as I know, any Italian top-flight poker players. Italians are hardly renowned for their ability to suppress their facial expressions or conceal what they’re really thinking. In this regard they are unusually well-represented by their Premier, Giorgia Meloni.

Upon becoming Italy’s Prime Minister in 2022, Ms Meloni was written off by the bien-pensant Anglophone press as a far-right extremist, destined for her rag tag coalition to crash like so many Italian governments before. Contra this narrative, she took her seat beside President Trump at the leaders’ round table in Washington DC yesterday. He even complimented her longevity in a famously unstable political climate: “You’ve been there for a long period of time relative to others. They don’t last very long; you’ve lasted a long time. You’re going to be there a long time.”

Such prominence for an Italian leader would have been unthinkable a little while ago. Italy’s schizophrenic political culture and its resolute failure to commit to NATO defense spending goals had made it easy for the France-German alliance to usher the Italians into a side room alongside the Spanish, Greeks and other “full partners” in the European enterprise.

Not so now. Meloni is not only making positive moves on defense and standing firm on the issue of Ukraine (earning her the ire of the actual Italian far right), but she is also overseeing one of Europe’s only successful economies. She is seen by many as a Trump whisperer, able to wrap the notoriously erratic and bizarre President around her finger.

Ms Meloni’s facial expressions at the Washington summit were a delight. Whether it was the eye roll during the pompous, drawn-out remarks of the German chancellor or her perma-scowl and crossed arms in the Oval Office, she has a remarkable ability to steal the show – and make her feelings abundantly clear – even in a room that contains more than its fair share of divas.

Her visible hatred of Emmanuel Macron is often conveyed through withering stares; she looks at the French President as if he’s something that she has just stepped in on the notoriously unclean pavements of Rome.

One person, by contrast, who couldn’t even make his words convey meaning, was the British Prime Minister. Sir Keir’s turn came on the round table and he duly filled his designated two minutes with waffle. The observation that “this conflict has gone on for three and a bit years” was one of his more profound contributions. During his speech, Ms Meloni flicked her hair, pursed her lips and explained considerably more than Sir Keir ever could.