"Almost all diplomats I have met over the years are very serious and very hardworking. They still must schmooze and dress up on occasion, but most of their time is spent trying to fathom out what's going on and reporting that back to base, often from difficult places. Thanks to Donald Trump, the job has got a whole lot harder."
"The basic tenets of British foreign policy have been shattered. Yet many of the problems predate him and are self-inflicted. Brexit stares diplomats in the face every day, requiring rictus smiles when reminded of the decade-old decision. Its consequences are not just the obvious ones."
"Underlying it is a wider problem: the absence of a realistic strategy for Britain's place in the world. A combination of hubris and underconfidence guided the relationships of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair and George Bush, and David Cameron and Barack Obama."
British diplomacy has fundamentally changed, with diplomats now confronting daily complications from Brexit and shifting international dynamics. The traditional pillars of British foreign policy—UN Security Council permanence, Commonwealth influence, and NATO prominence—have weakened or become irrelevant. Brexit has eliminated informal EU exchanges, forcing British diplomats to seek access rather than participate naturally. Prime ministerial partnerships that once guided British foreign relations, from Thatcher-Reagan to Cameron-Obama, relied on combinations of confidence and pragmatism. The current government's promised reset proceeds unevenly, reflecting broader strategic confusion about Britain's place in the world. Meanwhile, other nations like Germany and Poland demonstrate clearer defense commitments, highlighting Britain's uncertain positioning in contemporary geopolitics.
#british-diplomacy #brexit-consequences #foreign-policy-strategy #international-relations #geopolitical-positioning
Read at www.theguardian.com
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