“global Britain”mantra was adopted by Theresa May at the 2016 Conservative party conference in an attempt to define the country’s post-Brexit relationship with the world. According to the Foreign Office, it means “investing in our relationships, championing the rules-based international order and demonstrating that the UK is open, outward-looking and confident on the world stage”. Boris Johnsonfrom pretending it is a new idea.
Johnson, chancellor Rishi Sunak and blinkered Tory MPs who previously questioned the legally binding commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP onshould heed their warnings and those of 187 UK charities and aid organisations. “When 115-million people look set to be pushed back into extreme poverty, now is the time for an international, collaborative response to Covid-19,” they said in an open letter.
The chronic absence of thought-through strategy is also apparent in last week’s defence announcement, peppered with grandiose Johnsonian claims and headline-catching wheezes. To allocate a whopping £16.5bn to defence, on top of the annual inflation-proofed budget of £41.5bn, without explaining how this makes citizens safer or how it will be funded, is irresponsible. It is insulting to all those who measure security by our society’s ability, for example, to provide free school meals, reduce poverty, provide decent education and housing, halt Britain’s Covid-19 nightmare, and keep its foreign aid promises.
“Global Britain” does not mean Britain against the world. In a complex international arena, the focus must be on shared values, co-operation, alliances, soft power and integration, especially with the EU. In pronouncing on the future, Johnson shows he is stuck in the past.
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