The Salisbury attack constituted a kind of education in how brutal and shameless Moscow is prepared to be when flouting national sovereignty.
Baker has infuriated some Tories, but others regard him as the rising hope of the stern unbending Austrian economists.
The President of COP26 is suddenly so well-known that he attracts criticism as well as admiration, and interest in his roots as an admirer of Thatcher.
She shares with him the ability to throw opponents off balance – and a commitment to levelling up.