Little Britain, a street in London's financial district (Ian T Edwards)

The reluctant leader

With Tony Blair and David Miliband as possible candidates for top EU offices, London is aiming for greater involvement in Europe. However, as Mary Dejevsky argues in The Independent, conservative David Cameron may call a halt to this trend before it makes any impact.

Published on 27 October 2009 at 14:45
Little Britain, a street in London's financial district (Ian T Edwards)

A week or so ago, I sat metaphorically open-mouthed at a London think-tank, as a series of speakers systematically demolished all the arguments commonly advanced in support of the British-US "special relationship". What was said, in summary, was this.

Britain had to accept that she was a medium-sized power, with size, wealth and reach very different from those of the United States. The relationship would only ever become more unequal, as the US pursued global ambitions, and China hove into view. Britain's military and other capabilities would be distorted – to our disadvantage – if we tried to keep up with the US. And identifying our national interests so closely with those of the United States placed us in the demeaning position of having to change our foreign policy whenever the US elected a new administration, even though our own government was the same.

The conclusion was that our future foreign and defence policy alignment had to be with the European Union, although for the time being membership of Nato and the EU could be reconciled. My general astonishment, though, was only partly a response to the arguments being set out from the platform, cogent though they were. Mostly it was because the audience, rich in frontline military, defence and diplomatic experience, and of an age to be Atlanticist by temperament, seemed to be more in agreement with what was being said than not. Read full article in the Independent...

AFTER LISBON

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Will Britain field contenders for EU posts?

The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty will provide the EU with a President and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs, and two of the names mentioned for the new top jobs are British. Both of the potential candidates - former prime minister Tony Blair for the role of President and current Foreign Secretary David Miliband for the role of High Representative - are members of the beleaguered Labour Party, and neither of them has announced that they will be in the running for either post. In fact, Miliband, has insisted he would not be available, but commentators have taken this assertion with a grain of salt in the light of a remarkably pro-European speech he made early this week - which at least one British newspaper remarked could be regarded “as an impressive job application.” In any case, one thing is certain and that is that in EU matters quotas will always apply. If one of the duo of top jobs is granted to a Briton, the other will certainly go to a candidate from elsewhere in the EU.

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