Punching at any weight

These are the thoughts of former UK Ambassador to Russia, Rodric Braithwaite, on UK foreign policy developments over the past two decades.

As a sometime employee of the FCO, I always enjoy reading the (often self justifying thoughts) of former senior officers of the British Diplomatic Service. Rodric Braithwaite's article does not disappoint. As if he, as mere very senior ambassador and Chairman of the JIC in the early 1990s, could have had any influence on, or responsibility for, UK foreign policy over the past 2 decades?

That having been said, I suppose that it would be churlish not to rejoice over a repentant sinner, though I for one wish he was a little more repentant still. He correctly identifies a key fault (the belief that the UK can and should punch above its weight in international affairs) that has bedevilled post-1945 UK foreign policy. Yet he doesn't present a coherent alternative.

Ministers are in a tricky position. On one hand there are the obvious realities that Britain is not the force that it once was in world affairs. Yet on the other ministers are supported by a national security and foreign policy structure that was designed in the immediate post war period when Britain still played a leading role in the world and reflects that understanding of Britain's role. And, inexplicably, Britain still has the second biggest defence budget on the planet (only behind the US).

I think it is time that we had a proper review of all this, so we can decide what are real national interests are in the 21st century and how those should be reflected in our national security structures and strategy. Perhaps a Royal Commission briefed to research these issues with no sacred cows would be a way forward?