Thread by @AndrewPRLevi

Britain & the world deserve better. It’s very, very urgent.

What should the next Foreign Secretary say? What should the next government do?

Here’s the speech the Alternative Foreign Secretary just gave. Eat your heart out @trussliz, @DavidGHFrost, @BorisJohnson.

A (long) 🧵/1.

BETTER BRITAIN. BETTER WORLD – A PATRIOTIC FOREIGN POLICY FOR OUR ERA

When you’re Foreign Secretary, there’s no time to sun yourself. Even with your mobile phone on. As the outgoing holder of that centuries old office discovered to his cost. /2.

The job’s often described as being ‘the country’s chief diplomat’. Which is true.

But I’d put it differently.

It’s about patriotism. Upholding & promoting the United Kingdom’s security & prosperity, & the well-being of its population. /3.

Through all the means at our disposal on the international stage.

A good Foreign Secretary combines being the country’s chief realist with being its chief idealist. Standing up for what’s right. Within the limits of what’s possible. Doing what’s necessary for the country. /4.

The world faces its most dangerous period since 1914. Maybe ever. In a nuclear-, chemical-, biological- & cyber-armed era, with an existential environmental crisis & health emergencies confronting us, we can’t afford increasingly destabilised, chaotic international conditions./5.

But that’s precisely what we’re seeing. President Xi’s Chinese Communist Party actively seeks systemic competition with the US & its allies. He’s content to behave in ways reminiscent of the darkest decades of European history & to cloak his actions in a torrent of propaganda./6.

Russia, under President Putin, another shameless propagandist, attempts to disrupt. He pursues revanchist, brutal expansion in Europe, the Caucasus & central Asia, using Russia’s oil & gas resources & vast nuclear arsenal as blackmail. /7.

In the pure image of the Soviet KGB he deploys covert, state-backed & state-executed terrorism, & so-called hybrid war.

Both have a vital interest in protecting the personal safety & huge wealth of their domestic political allies, themselves, & their families. /8.

It is the overriding & most urgent task of any British government, to do all in its power to help stem and reverse these deeply troubling trends. Our future depends on it. /9.

It is through hard-headed, systematic & sustained cooperation with our neighbours & allies, that we give practical expression to patriotism. Not through jingoism. Or empty, three-word slogans. Or lurches into geopolitical fantasy. They help no one. /10.

Except those who would do us harm.

We also, & crucially, do it by recognising essential realities. Where power lies. How it is exercised. And how circumstances are evolving, & why. /11.

In 1950 the United States was, with half the globe’s entire economic output, an unparalleled financial and industrial colossus.

The USA, still the world’s hyperpower, is now - though wealthier than ever - reduced to around a quarter of the global economy. /12.

And the world has become more interconnected, sometimes in ways which challenge democracies & the exercise of legitimate state power. /13.

These developments make it harder – but, if anything, more important – for America to protect its interests &, in the process, those of its main allies. Allies which now must make an increasing contribution to the effort.

The USA is indispensable for Britain. /14.

The reverse is not the case. We fool ourselves if we think otherwise.

The headline-grabbing Asia-Pacific defence deal, announced by President Biden & his Australian & British counterparts, throws that into sharp relief. /15.

A unique deal, over half a century. Which the Biden administration has now judged it appropriate to extend to Australia.

When we talk of the USA, it is about much more than the continental-scale country with its capital city in Washington DC. /16.

Geopolitically, the United States is a global system of political, economic, financial & military structures centred on that country. What we refer to as the international rules based system is fundamentally dependent on, & to a large extent actually is, those arrangements. /17.

It represents more than half of the world’s economy & defence spending. More than double China’s land area. And over a billion people. It is powerfully present across the globe.

Europe’s vital contribution to the system is founded primarily on the European Union. And NATO. /18.

Both of which are essential to the success of the whole. The UK used to be a leading member of each. /19.

Such are the benefits of a hugely privileged education, & a Bullingdon Club apprenticeship in destroying one’s surroundings, that a quality of extraordinary, arrogant foolishness appears to have become a pre-requisite for Cabinet rank in Her Majesty’s Government. /20.

Disregarding, misunderstanding & smashing up our vital alliances, & the essential structures & processes which make them effective is, deeply disturbingly, the philosophy – if such a term can be used – of the Cabinet. /21.

As we have seen, America, under President Biden, is not abandoning its global role. Don’t be fooled by some of the commentary on Afghanistan. The tragedy facing so many is real. Our duty to help those affected, beyond question. /22.

But President Biden has made clear all along, he will implement a strategy of focusing on the most important, core tasks. And doing so with increased, concerted participation from the European Union, Asia-Pacific & other key allies who get with the programme. /23.

The United Kingdom represents about three percent of world defence spending. About three percent of the global economy. One percent of population. And a small fraction of a percent of land area. /24.

For a country of our size & capabilities, facing the massive international challenges outlined earlier, there are three potential ways forward.

Deny reality.

Seek a free ride.

Or, contribute. /25.

I reject the first. Anyone keen to abandon reality, be my guest. I cannot advise you further. King Canute might want a word or two, though.

Trying to free ride is a tempting thought, for some. /26.

Get North America, the EU, Asia-Pacific & other major US allies to do the heavy lifting. Fail to contribute. Reap the rewards.

It is unconscionable. And doomed. Yet, barely disguised, it’s the policy being pursued by the current British government. /27.

What a declaration of political, intellectual & moral bankruptcy.

Worse, there’s more than a strand within that government actively seeking a US administration which would throw the world under a bus. One which would abandon Europe. And other core, global commitments. /28.

We can speculate about the possible motivations for wishing that. None are good.

There is a patriotic alternative. It requires realism, idealism & determination.

First, reverse the strategic error of the Johnson Brexit. /29.

There has never been a majority in the country for the Johnson, Vote Leave, chainsaw surgery, bleeding stump approach.

A wildly flailing political lurch which tears apart the United Kingdom, & undermines the global alliance on which we depend. /30.

The Johnson Brexit has failed. It must end.

We need, as an immediate step, an agricultural & food standards arrangement with the EU. To save our agriculture. And remove the great majority of potential for difficulties at the Great Britain-Northern Ireland internal frontier. /31.

A frontier recklessly demanded & imposed by the Johnson government, in its determination to rip the UK out of the EU single market & customs union.

We must urgently negotiate a return to both. Or substantially identical arrangements. /32.

The UK’s economy will bleed out – slowly if we’re lucky; faster than many imagine, if we’re not - if the Johnson Brexit is allowed to continue.

Second, redouble our contribution to global security, through our defence, aid & diplomatic capabilities. /33.

Europe’s territorial defence is our defence. The US, under any administration, strongly wants, & needs, Europe to play a full, much enhanced part in its own security. As the so-called ‘AUKUS’ deal on nuclear submarines illustrates, global force projection can have its place. /34.

With our main allies. And with our European house in order.

Our overseas aid is both a moral duty & a service to national security. Cutting it is exceptionally short-sighted. Europe is the world’s development assistance superpower. The UK can & must play its full part. /35.

In our national & collective interests.

Britain’s diplomatic capabilities are hollowed out. /36.

The tenures of the outgoing Foreign Secretary, his predecessor &, in the shortest time, his successor, have seen a precipitate decline in the quality, reputation & impact of British diplomacy. /37.

It’s our face to the world & our means of influencing it. Leveraging the UK’s economic, defence & reputational strengths, anchored in powerful alliances on our own continent & beyond. /38.

Pretending that our permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, our membership of the G7, or the ‘five-eyes’ intelligence sharing group, can shore-up the position of a self-isolating, so-called ‘Global Britain’, is dishonest & deeply irresponsible. /39.

And it’s seen as such in major capital cities across the world.

No diplomacy can be effective in the face of such a crass denial of reality. /40.

Third, having re-established ourselves as serious partners, we have a chance of making a real difference to the achievement of the most important global tasks facing humanity.

Preservation of the planet.

Prevention of nuclear annihilation & other major security threats. /41.

Protecting public health.

Ending poverty & spreading prosperity.

Fail on any one of these & it’s game over. /42.

To imagine that we can succeed without half the global economy – the US, EU, Japan & other allies – making a joint, concerted effort of historic proportions, is to fool ourselves. And fatally so. /43.

To believe that the UK can free ride, in a fantasy bubble of fake-patriotism & historically, strategically illiterate hubris, is to make our country & its people a laughing stock.

At best.

A pariah state to be contained, by the USA & its allies, at worst. /44.

All these tasks are immensely difficult. They are also risky & expensive. Risks & expense only exceeded – many, many times over – by those of failure. /45.

The catastrophic experiment which the current Prime Minister & his narrow, Vote Leave Cabinet are trying to perform on the country is unpatriotic.

Like paddling while Kabul burns.

It undermines our security, prosperity & well-being. /46.

It is reckless.

It is wrong.

It must end.

If not, we will never be forgiven.

So, please, join me.

For a better Britain.

And a better world.

Thank you ▪️/47.

Note: this speech is an updated version of the “Alternative Foreign Secretary”, written for @RebootGb & available, also as a sound recording, on their website. /48.

rebootgb.today/foreignsecreta…

“Better Britain. Better World” is shamelessly borrowed from @DMiliband, who came up with it during his time as Foreign Secretary. All these years later, it fits. /49. End

CORRECTION: Apologies: first sentence of tweet 16 is missing: “The United Kingdom’s nuclear submarine technology has always been part of an American programme”.