doing abroad

Moving away from the parish pump for a while, what’s William Hague’s brief at the FCO? There’s nothing about it in the Pact of Blood; more details are promised later. 

David Cameron let slip famously - though not famously enough – that the existence of China as a major player in the world was a reason for us to keep our nukes. Also, there’s his weird personal endorsement of Kartvelian irredentism and his decision to become a patron of the Latvian SS veterans’ political wing. And then there’s the “special relationship”: Obama was on TV today doing an amazing postmodern skit in which he conveyed that he knew perfectly well who David Cameron was but was only pretending to nearly forget his name in the hope that he’d get the message. Cool stuff, but I suspect it went over the head of the intended recipient. 

Dave doesn’t really do abroad; when he does do it, he mines the Tory world view for political and media equity and then gets back into his comfort zone. Yet Europe gets major play in the coalition deal: “Europe” is now just a part of Greater England that Cameron doesn’t much care for, a bit like Scotland, or London. He’s integrated it. To this extent, the ‘kippers are right. 

As for the rest, we don’t know. There’ll be a Lib Dem in there somewhere – there’s got to be one, or maybe even two, because the payroll vote needs to be padded out to give the government its majority – but that’s just a way for Nick Clegg to reward his friends. So that leaves Hague with a free hand, and the Tory right with its rallying point or at any rate considerable opportunities to make mischief – or so it seems right now. I want to see that “final coalition agreement” for this reason alone. 

Comments

[Martin Wisse]

"Dave doesn’t really do abroad" -- reminds you of a certain T. Blair?

[Guano]

It will indeed be interesting to see the foreign affairs section of the coalition agreement. The LibDems have said various things (eg about international law) that the other two main parties have preferred to avoid mentioning. Have they been erased from history already? It will also be interesting to see how the coalition deals with the outputs from the Chilcot Inquiry.