Peter Oborne writes:
Nearly six months into her premiership, and we have a crystal clear
understanding of UK prime minister Theresa May’s foreign policy – and its
contradictions.
Her two recent speeches - one to
the Gulf
Cooperation Council in Bahrain last
weekend and another at the Conservative Friends of Israel lunch on Monday –
have left room for ambiguity.
The prime minister will give
limitless support and diplomatic cover to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States.
This extends to a public defence of the Saudi coalition airstrikes on
Yemen, and a point-blank refusal to acknowledge that the Saudis have breached
international humanitarian law.
May showed she will allow no
deviation from the position when she slapped down her foreign secretary Boris Johnson after he made uncontroversial comments last month about Saudi Arabia's
involvement in proxy wars.
Alliance with Saudi Arabia means being against Iran: May said so in
her speech last weekend.
The alliance with Saudi also explains the third leg of
May's foreign policy: Britain will continue to do its best to undermine the
Assad regime by military and other means.
The prime minister will
countenance no criticism of Israel.
This emerged in her speech at the
Conservative Friends of Israel lunch on Monday, during which her lavish praise
on Israel was balanced by a perfunctory mention of the continued outrage at
Israel’s settlement policy.
Russia remains an enemy.
We know this thanks to the ill-advised public
speech made by Alex Younger, the MI6 chief, at MI6 headquarters last week.
"The risks at stake are profound," he said, "and represent a
fundamental threat to our sovereignty: they should be a concern to all those
who share democratic values."
The UK will side with India
against Pakistan over Kashmir.
Britain failed to condemn the murder of
19-year-old Waseem Ahmad, who was shot by soldiers in the northwestern
Sopore region while
purportedly involved in a demonstration (relatives claim he was simply walking
to his paddy fields), which set off the latest round of public demonstrations.
Farage is UK's only good contact with Trump
Farage is UK's only good contact with Trump
Those who claim May has not been open about her
negotiating position haven’t been paying attention.
Actually her position is
very clear: May's policy is to remain in the EU while formally leaving it.
To
adapt foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s famous phrase, she doesn’t want to have
her cake, and she doesn’t want to eat it either.
The prime minister wants to
retain access to the single market and is prepared to make a number of
compromises, including over freedom of movement, in order to do so.
Finally we come to the United
States, Britain's closest ally since the US belatedly joined the Second World
War after the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbour in December 1941.
May wants to break with the US
alliance.
She has rejected an invitation by Trump, admittedly offered in a very
casual way, to visit him in Trump Tower before he enters the White House.
Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador in Washington, and his
useless predecessor Sir Peter Westmacott, both failed to see Trump coming.
That act of negligence recalls the notorious dispatches from Sir Anthony Parsons, the British ambassador in Iran Parsons in 1979, who assured London that the Shah of Iran was secure.
Parsons warily told London in 1979: "I do not foresee any serious trouble in the near future."
His incompetence was rewarded when he was promoted to UK Representative to the United Nations only a few months afterwards.
That act of negligence recalls the notorious dispatches from Sir Anthony Parsons, the British ambassador in Iran Parsons in 1979, who assured London that the Shah of Iran was secure.
Parsons warily told London in 1979: "I do not foresee any serious trouble in the near future."
His incompetence was rewarded when he was promoted to UK Representative to the United Nations only a few months afterwards.
More important still, Britain now has policies which are opposed to those of the president-elect.
While Trump is determined to strike a deal with Putin, Britain continues to regard Putin as an existential threat.
Trump can work with Assad in Syria: Britain regards any dealings with the Assad government as unacceptable.
On Tuesday Washington indicated that it is prepared to halt some arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the high death toll to civilians caused by Saudi bombing.
Britain, meanwhile, is determined to carry on selling arms to Saudi.
For the first time in living
memory, Britain has broken from the United States, its oldest ally.
Such a step is bold indeed, just a few months after Brexit.
Such a step is bold indeed, just a few months after Brexit.
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