Biarritz, France(CNN) This weekend, Boris Johnson is making his leadership debut as on the world stage at the G7 in the French resort of Biarritz.
It is a moment the UK Prime Minister has cherished since childhood. And, in the eyes of many Brits, he has gambled the UK's future to achieve it.
Since becoming PM, Johnson has had one goal: to get the UK out of the European Union, a message he has hammered home this week in meetings with France's President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In Biarritz, he will also meet with US President Donald Trump, Japan's Shinzo Abe, and Canada's Justin Trudeau. Johnson's moment in the sun will come when, if as expected, he and Trump unveil their much-hyped steps to a post-Brexit trade deal.
It will be a handy trophy of sorts, which is intended to dazzle British voters and convince them that, despite the advice of the government's own civil servants and experts, Brexit will benefit the British economy.
All of which will soon be hugely important as Johnson faces a looming challenge to his leadership and a general election.
While Brexit is the talk of diplomats and business leaders the world over, little mention is being made of his apparent bet on America, the presidency of Trump, and all that entails.
To side with America rather than the EU, as Johnson has been showing recently, risks committing the UK to far more than Brexit.
Johnson is a risk-taker: while his gamble on Trump might benefit him today, it also risks breaking Britain, splitting the four-nation Union, and potentially putting it on the wrong side of emerging geopolitical fault lines.
The reasons are relatively straightforward: the world has changed a lot since the Brexit vote in 2016.
Indeed it is a very different place than it was when former prime minister David Cameron promised a referendum on EU membership in 2013.
However while the world has moved on, Euroskeptics have not.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson waves from the steps of No. 10 Downing Street after giving a statement in London in July 2019. He had just become prime minister.
A 15-year-old Johnson, right, is seen outside Eton College, a boarding school outside London, in 1979.
Johnson, 21, speaks with Greek Minister for Culture Melina Mercouri in June 1986. Johnson at the time was president of the Oxford Union, a prestigious student society.
Johnson started his career as a journalist. He was fired from an early job at The Times for fabricating a quote. He later became a Brussels correspondent and then an assistant editor for The Daily Telegraph. From 1994 to 2005, he was editor of the weekly magazine The Spectator.
In 2001, Johnson was elected as a member of Parliament. He won the seat in Henley for the Conservative Party.
Johnson looks apologetic after fouling Germany's Maurizio Gaudino during a charity soccer match in Reading, England, in May 2006.
Johnson is congratulated by Conservative Party leader David Cameron, right, after being elected mayor of London in May 2008. Cameron later became prime minister.
Johnson, left, poses with a wax figure of himself at Madame Tussauds in London in May 2009.
Johnson poses for a photo in London in April 2011. He was re-elected as the city's mayor in 2012.
Johnson and his wife, Marina, enjoy the atmosphere in London ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony in July 2012. The couple separated in 2018 after 25 years of marriage.
Johnson gets stuck on a zip line during an event in London's Victoria Park in August 2012.
Johnson waves on London's Wandsworth Bridge as a bike-sharing program was expanded in the city in 2013.
Johnson poses with his father, Stanley, and his siblings, Rachel and Jo, at the launch of his new book in October 2014. Stanley Johnson was once a member of the European Parliament.
Johnson takes part in a charity tug-of-war with British military personnel in October 2015.
Johnson and Michael Gove ride on a "Vote Leave" campaign bus in June 2016.
Johnson kisses a wild salmon while visiting a fish market in London in June 2016. A month earlier, he stepped down as mayor but remained a member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Johnson arrives at a news conference in London in June 2016. During the Brexit referendum that year, he was under immense pressure from Prime Minister Cameron to back the Remain campaign. But he broke ranks and backed Brexit at the last minute.
Johnson sits next to Prime Minister Theresa May during a Cabinet meeting in November 2016. Johnson was May's foreign secretary for two years before resigning over her handling of Brexit.
As foreign secretary, Johnson meets with US House Speaker Paul Ryan in April 2017. Johnson was born in New York City to British parents and once held dual citizenship. But he renounced his US citizenship in 2016.
Johnson launches his Conservative Party leadership campaign in June 2019.
Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt take part in the Conservative Leadership debate in June 2019.
Johnson speaks in July 2019 after he won the party leadership vote to become Britain's next prime minister.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Johnson at Buckingham Palace, where she invited him to become Prime Minister and form a new government.
Johnson poses with his dog Dilyn as he leaves a polling station in London in December 2019.
Johnson appears on stage alongside Bobby Smith during the count declaration in London in December 2019.
Johnson's Conservative Party won a majority in the UK's general election, securing his position as Prime Minister.
Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, react to election results from his study at No. 10 Downing Street.
Johnson speaks on the phone with Queen Elizabeth II in March 2020.
In March 2020, Johnson announced in a
video posted to Twitter that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "Over the last 24 hours, I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this,"
Johnson said. He was later hospitalized after his symptoms had "worsened," according to his office.
Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, outside of No. 10 Downing Street, join a national applause showing appreciation for health-care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Johnson is seen via video conference as he attends a Covid-19 meeting remotely in March 2020.
After recovering from the coronavirus, Johnson
returned to work in late April 2020.
Johnson and staff members are pictured together with wine at a Downing Street garden in May 2020. In January 2022,
Johnson apologized for attending the event, which took place when Britons were prohibited from gathering due to strict coronavirus restrictions.
Johnson wears a face mask as he visits the headquarters of the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust in July 2020.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sits across from Johnson in the garden of No. 10 Downing Street in July 2020.
14/07/2020. London, United Kingdom. Boris Johnson and Carrie NHS Call.The Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds with their son Wilfred in the study of No10 Downing Street speaking via zoom to the midwifes that helped deliver their son at the UCLH.
Johnson holds a crab in Stromness Harbour during a visit to Scotland in July 2020.
Johnson is seen with his wife, Carrie, after
their wedding at London's Westminster Cathedral in May 2021. The ceremony, described by PA Media as a "secret wedding," was reportedly held in front of close friends and family, according to several British newspaper accounts.
Johnson and US President Joe Biden speak at Carbis Bay in Cornwall, England, after their bilateral meeting in June 2021. Biden and Johnson were participating in the G7 summit that weekend.
Queen Elizabeth II greets Johnson at Buckingham Palace in June 2021. It was the Queen's first in-person weekly audience with the Prime Minister since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson delivers his keynote speech on the final day of the annual Conservative Party Conference in October 2021.
Johnson and former British prime ministers attend a requiem Mass for Conservative MP David Amess in November 2021. From left are former Prime Ministers John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Johnson.
Johnson and his wife, Carrie, holding their newborn daughter, Romy, hold video calls in December 2021.
Johnson speaks in the House of Commons in January 2022. He
apologized for attending a May 2020 garden party that took place while the UK was in a hard lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19. Johnson told lawmakers he believed the gathering to be a work event but that, with hindsight, he should have sent attendees back inside.
Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine, in April 2022.
Johnson attends the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral in London in June 2022. It was part of Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II.
"I think it's an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on to unite," Johnson said in an interview shortly after surviving a
confidence vote in June 2022.
Johnson leaves No. 10 Downing Street on July 6, a day after
two senior Cabinet ministers quit over Downing Street's handling of the resignation of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
At Prime Minister's Questions on July 6, Johnson said "the job of a Prime Minister in difficult circumstances when he has been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going, and that's what I'm going to do."
Johnson announces his resignation in front of No. 10 Downing Street on July 7. "It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister," he said.
Johnson speaks outside No. 10 Downing Street on September 6. It was his last day as prime minister.
Clash of the titans
Trump won the US presidential election a few months after Brexit and has subsequently shown that America is not the reliable ally it once was.
He has picked fights with friends, Germany, Canada, France, and even the UK, while mollycoddling dictators like North Korea's Kim Jong Un. This week, in an extraordinary move even by his own unpredictable standards, he dissed Denmark, dumping out of an upcoming state visit, deeming it no longer worthwhile because it won't sell him Greenland.
Trump is utterly undependable, but it is in the case of China that he most threatens the post-Brexit calculus.
The Asian superpower is coming of age, inevitably challenging the United States. China believes its technology sector should have a fair shake at dominating and appears willing to endure a bitter trade war with Trump to achieve it.
A clash of these titans is on the horizon, and neither can be relied on to act in a way that might have been imagined five years ago.
If Johnson wants a taste of what this could ultimately look like, he needs to look beyond the uplifting platitudes of fast trade deals with the US that Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, promised during his visit to London earlier this month.
Betting the bank on US
If Johnson looks to Hong Kong and listens to the threats thrown at the UK by Beijing, he won't hear anything remotely friendly. Any wish to have a fruitful trade deal with China is exactly that -- a wish.
China is on the way up and, thanks to Trump's trade war, the world is heading for an us-versus-them universe.
There will be two camps, pro-America; pro-China, and Johnson appears to be betting the bank on America.
The recent clashes over Chinese technology firm Huawei was a harbinger of issues that lie ahead.
Bolton's trip to London and Johnson's apparent backtracking on allowing the Chinese tech giant to build part pf the UK's 5G network is one of several signals that the UK is tilting towards Trump.
The week before he took office, Jeremy Hunt, the UK's former foreign secretary, said Britain would look to EU allies to provide security for British tankers under threat in the Persian Gulf.
Hours into office, Johnson turfed Hunt out of the job and gave it to his hardline Brexiteer colleague, Dominic Raab.
Raab has wasted little time reversing Hunt's words, thrusting Britain into America's willing arms to help it -- not following the EU lead in securing shipping in the important oil transit waters just off the coast of Iran.
It's what America wants, and so, it seems, does Johnson, despite Gibraltar, a UK overseas territory, refusing to accede to US demands to hand over an Iranian oil tanker temporarily impounded there.
He has succeeded in convincing the country and the EU he'll leave the 28 nation alliance on 31st of October, "do or die."
Bolton says America will support the UK. Of course he did -- Trump wants the EU to be as weak as possible.
But it's worth asking the question, is Johnson siding with America simply to make the EU take his no-deal threat more seriously? Or is he really throwing the UK's lot in with America.
Then-UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson met President Trump at the UN headquarters in September 2017.
Out in the cold
If the latter, where does that leave the UK, post-Brexit?
While the EU is far from homogeneous in its view of Trump's America -- Poland, Hungary and some of Italy's leaders are big fans -- Germany and France fear his protectionist anti-EU policies.
In China's eyes, the EU may look less like an economic threat than America. Any EU nation will be able to maintain an ambiguous relationship, warm and fuzzy with Trump if they like, but when dealing with China benefiting from the collective bargaining power that the EU brings to trade deals.
Should Johnson deliver Brexit, the UK would be out in the cold and at the mercy of an unpredictable US President than might seem to be the case as Johnson bigs up his time with Trump at the G7.
Johnson would do well to look at the legacy of another prime minister, Tony Blair. Blair was popular and had a huge majority (which Johnson does not) until he got caught up in former US President George W. Bush's 2003 Iraq war.
Blair lasted 10 years, five of them after the invasion of Iraq. If Johnson gets his gamble wrong, 10 months in office could seem like a stretch, leaving the UK paying the price long after he is forgotten.