Six former foreign secretaries on Brexit, Britain… and Boris
Amid the prosaic setting of British politics, with its fusty civil servants and turgid party meetings, the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs stands out as the most glamorous of cabinet appointments. There’s the exotic travel, the hobnobbing with dignitaries, the adrenalin rush of serious global events – who cares about the campaign to stop the local post office closing down when you’ve got a vote at the UN security council to deal with. And there’s the sense, bolstered by your Foreign Office staff and the never less than precarious condition of international relations, that what you say and do actually matters.
Still, behind all the photocalls, the joint accords and bland diplomatic statements, what does a foreign secretary really do? After all, when it comes to the most critical foreign policy – military intervention – it’s the prime minister who’s in the hot seat. Although foreign secretary is one of the three great offices of state beneath that of the PM, it doesn’t enjoy the autonomy of chancellor or the isolation of home secretary – a ministry from which prime ministers are often all too keen to distance themselves. At the key moments, foreign policy is the preserve of No 10.
Furthermore, at this present juncture, the job description of foreign secretary seems more amorphous than ever. Britain stands at an uncertain crossroads. The world order is shifting, and our traditional ally, the United States, is run by a maverick reality TV star who wants to pull back from international commitments while conducting global policy via his Twitter account.
Then, of course, there is Brexit. The nation seems stuck at the door, neither ready to face the harsh world outside nor prepared to return to the embittered marital home. For all the talk of getting our country back, there is a growing fear that we will return to being what John Updike once called “a soggy little island huffing and puffing to keep up with western Europe”.
And where in all this trepidation is the current foreign secretary, Boris Johnson? He appears to have been more vocal about the plight of the National Health Service – not traditionally seen as part of the Foreign Office’s remit – than he has been involved in the most momentous change in foreign policy since the second world war. And when he does intervene, as shown by his recent comparison of the Irish border to the line between the London boroughs of Camden and Islington, he tends to make more headlines than headway.
Still, behind all the photocalls, the joint accords and bland diplomatic statements, what does a foreign secretary really do? After all, when it comes to the most critical foreign policy – military intervention – it’s the prime minister who’s in the hot seat. Although foreign secretary is one of the three great offices of state beneath that of the PM, it doesn’t enjoy the autonomy of chancellor or the isolation of home secretary – a ministry from which prime ministers are often all too keen to distance themselves. At the key moments, foreign policy is the preserve of No 10.
Furthermore, at this present juncture, the job description of foreign secretary seems more amorphous than ever. Britain stands at an uncertain crossroads. The world order is shifting, and our traditional ally, the United States, is run by a maverick reality TV star who wants to pull back from international commitments while conducting global policy via his Twitter account.
Then, of course, there is Brexit. The nation seems stuck at the door, neither ready to face the harsh world outside nor prepared to return to the embittered marital home. For all the talk of getting our country back, there is a growing fear that we will return to being what John Updike once called “a soggy little island huffing and puffing to keep up with western Europe”.
And where in all this trepidation is the current foreign secretary, Boris Johnson? He appears to have been more vocal about the plight of the National Health Service – not traditionally seen as part of the Foreign Office’s remit – than he has been involved in the most momentous change in foreign policy since the second world war. And when he does intervene, as shown by his recent comparison of the Irish border to the line between the London boroughs of Camden and Islington, he tends to make more headlines than headway.
Source: theguardian
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