In Las Vegas, they have paid more than $4,000 (£3,220) a head. It’s safe to assume attendees at the Scale Global Summit didn’t part with their cash to listen to tales of COVID lockdown.  

There are a couple of UK police forces for that.

In the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, this is a gathering of the great and the good, rolling into town to riff on the global challenges of tomorrow.

In ‘Sin City’, the pandemic seems so yesterday.

And yet, it stalks him.

For Boris the travelling showman, COVID – and rules broken – is the baggage he can’t lose.

Organisers of this Vegas get-together call it “A Global Ecosystem – where capital, innovation and purpose collide”. And they like Mr Johnson – a reported six-figure appearance fee speaks to political stardust that still twinkles.

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His ‘tuppence worth’ (sic) is entitled A Global Perspective with Boris Johnson. He is slotted in between stage contributions on “longevity” and “renaissance” in a schedule he might have crafted himself.

His previous stop was in Texas, where he lunched with former President George W Bush and used his political muscle to bang the drum for continued support for Ukraine, taking his message to Republicans rooted in the heartland.

At this, Mr Johnson works. And this works his ticket on the road back.

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At the big event, on the international stage, they still call for Boris.

But whatever the audience and whatever the subject matter, COVID – it seems – is forever the question coming next.

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