One of Charles de Gaulle’s most famous rhetorical flourishes was that “France has no friends, only interests”. His dogged pursuit of those interests, at the expense of the Entente Cordiale, regularly brought him into conflict with British prime ministers – whether over the Common Market or Nato. He believed that was a price worth paying: protecting France’s power and autonomy was a duty he was bound to elevate above all else.
Today the conditions are ripe for a Gaullist reawakening in this country. A century prior to de Gaulle, it was Lord Palmerston who channelled a similar realism: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” When was the last time you heard a politician define British interests, never mind in a way that chimes with the public? Instead we are peppered with appeals to our “reputation” and “standing” in the world, usually in defence of policies that leave us poorer and less secure.
In fact, we are now seeing an inversion of this proud tradition. In David Lammy’s world view, the UK has only relationships to preserve, not interests. In Washington this month, he lamented Tory prime ministers “undermining” the UK-US relationship “by generating senseless rows over Northern Ireland”. I can only assume that he would rather we capitulated to the Irish Lobby than defend our territorial integrity. He demanded the UK “renewed” its alliances – ignoring our steadfast contributions to Nato, in stark contrast to the free-riding of our European neighbours. And he argued we should bind ourselves into a geopolitical partnership with the EU, despite Brussels consistently refusing to seize small boats equipment.
Lammy’s vision of “progressive realism” – a hackneyed take on Robin Cook’s “ethical foreign policy” – will collapse under the weight of its contradictions. In a more contested world, where the West’s economic and military advantage is slipping, the tension between values and interests only becomes more strained. The latter must prevail, but Lammy’s obsession with “climate leadership” and being an “aid superpower” is a recipe for putting Britain’s security interests last.
Last week, the Prime Minister articulated a more clear-eyed analysis of the threats we face. But practical actions to advance the national interest lag behind. If, as he argues, the next five years will be more consequential than the previous 30, why wait until 2030 to elevate defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP? If we live in an age of mass migration, as he and I agree, why isn’t improving some of the appalling returns cooperation the UK receives from foreign governments one of the top priorities of the Foreign Office?
A foreign policy grounded in the UK’s interests would halve the overseas aid budget to give our Armed Forces the funding uplift desperately needed. It would prioritise the ability to remove dangerous criminals and surveil suspected terrorists over supranational entities like the Strasbourg Court.
We must go back to first principles, starting with a full-throated defence of British sovereign territories. Take the British Indian Ocean Territory, a strategically important archipelago claimed on spurious grounds by Mauritius, which the Government won’t rule out conceding. Or the Falklands, whose defence is compromised by our perilously small naval fleet.
In our generosity abroad, we’ve neglected our own defence. As we have pursued a naval tilt to the Indo-Pacific, we have overlooked the patrol boats that protect our submarine cables in the North Sea from being compromised by Russian spy ships. We can never forget our immutable security interests lie in Europe, the High North, and the free supply of energy and commerce.
We can’t punch our weight abroad if we are compromised at home. Yet Iranian agents have been allowed to run amok, including attempting to assassinate dissidents on UK soil, and still the IRGC isn’t proscribed. The Chinese espionage threat is unprecedented, yet the Government refuses to place China on the Enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
A luxury beliefs-based foreign policy is the road to irrelevance. Our leaders need to summon up the spirit of Lord Palmerston and focus on the sovereignty and security of the British nation and its citizens. Anything less is a profound failure of public duty.