Freed from EU shackles, we can be great again
Far from diminishing our status as a global power, Britain’s voice will be heard at the highest levels
Back in 2010, William Hague celebrated his appointment as foreign secretary by delivering a series of speeches explaining his ambitious plans to restore Britain’s status as a major world power.
The essence of Mr Hague’s message, was that if we in Britain wanted to reclaim our place among other world powers, then we needed to “earn our living” by forging new trade ties with emerging economic powers such as Brazil, India and China.
Attention would also be paid to reviving more long-standing relationships, such as those with the Commonwealth and our allies in the Gulf, where Sir Alan Duncan, a junior minister, was given the job of developing ties.
Mr Hague set out his new foreign policy agenda when Britain was still a key member of the European Union, and not even Mr Hague, whose political career had been forged, in part, by his Eurosceptic beliefs, seriously believed that Britain would ever renounce its membership.
His vision was more that, by building a network of new global trading partners, we would become less reliant on the EU for our financial wellbeing, thereby laying the foundations for Britain to consolidate its status in the world.
As so often happens with bold political initiatives, Mr Hague’s agenda was stymied by the demands of having to devote so much of his time to dealing with major conflicts, such as Libya, the aftermath of the Arab uprisings and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Even so, now that Britain has taken the historic decision to turn its back on the EU as a political entity, the Hague doctrine provides a useful template for how Britain can fashion its post-EU standing on the world stage.
There are many officials in Whitehall who will tell you the Brexit vote has dealt a mortal blow to Britain’s global standing and that, without EU membership, we will forever be consigned to the fringes of international diplomacy. They will point to the fact that David Cameron will be the first British prime minister for more than 40 years to suffer the humiliation of being excluded from a summit of EU heads of state when the other 27 leaders meet today.
Given how heavily Whitehall’s Remain camp were invested in retaining our EU membership, it is hardly surprising they should continue to persist with the relentless negativity that lost them the referendum in the first place.
What these doom-mongers fail to appreciate, though, is that, far from diminishing our standing as a world power, leaving the EU could be the making of modern Britain.
For a start, Brexit does not mean we have to give up our coveted position as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. On the contrary, Brussels – which no doubt planned to claim our UN seat for its own diplomatic wing, the pretentious European External Action Service – will now have to rely solely on the French to represent its views on the Security Council.
Voting to renew the Trident nuclear deterrent, as the Government intends to do next month, is another vital pillar of our security that will ensure that Britain’s voice will still be heard at the highest level in the post-Brexit world. Maintaining the deterrent is essential to our continued seat at the security council: so long as Britain retains these key assets we can be confident of retaining our place at the diplomatic top table.
The Brexit vote should also help to highlight the importance of Britain’s military contribution to keeping the peace, especially as, by leaving the EU, we have effectively killed off EU plans to establish its own defence force.
Federica Mogherini, the EU’s chief diplomat, deliberately delayed publishing the EU’s new foreign and security policy strategy until this week because she feared – rightly – it would play into the hands of Leave campaigners.
The document shows that the EU has lost none of its superstate aspirations, as it argues that the union must secure “strategic autonomy” from Nato by developing its own military force.
Fortunately, Ms Mogherini’s attempt to deceive the British electorate backfired miserably and, post-Brexit, it is highly unlikely the EU will be able to assemble such a force without British participation.
This country’s forces have made a significant contribution to the EU’s recent military initiatives – including counter-piracy operations in Somalia and protecting the Baltic states from Russian aggression – and they will continue to do so, working with whichever European countries are willing to participate. But they will not do so under the auspices of an EU command structure which, apart from compromising the ability of the British government to command its own Armed Forces, would have seriously undermined the effectiveness of the Nato alliance.
Far, then, from being afraid about Britain’s future prospects, we should be excited. Freed from the EU’s shackles, we can be a great nation once more.