Can a new PM restore our place in the world?

Theresa May’s mistakes on everything from Huawei to Isil have left a disastrous legacy for her successor

While Brexit is the defining issue in the Tory leadership contest, it is also essential that other key factors are considered in the race to become our next prime minister, such as whether they have the statesmanlike qualities needed to restore our global stature.

For, irrespective of how the Brexit process ultimately plays out, the next Downing Street incumbent will have his or her work cut out restoring Britain’s standing in the world, after the significant diminution our status as a world power has suffered in the three years since Theresa May became prime minister.

It is all very well Mrs May and her inner circle of advisers using Brexit as an excuse for this steady erosion in British influence. Sure, had it not been for Brexit, they would have had more time to expand their horizons beyond the narrow confines of EU politicking. But I suspect that, rather than confronting the big challenges

of the age, like the threat countries such as Russia and China pose to world peace, they will have been far more comfortable saving black rhinos, as the Army was recently asked to do, or tackling the plastics epidemic in the world’s oceans.

It could even be argued that Britain’s recent demise dates back to 2013, when David Cameron failed to win Commons backing for military action in Syria. Ever since, it appears the collective Whitehall mindset has been to keep our heads down.

There was, it is true, a brief flurry of activity following last year’s Salisbury poisonings, when Downing Street orchestrated the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats. But it could also be the case that the attack would never have happened in the first place had the hoods who run the Kremlin not reached the conclusion that we were a soft touch.

For all Mrs May’s threats at the time to make life difficult for the Russians, Downing Street quickly lost interest, to the extent that these days Russian oligarchs and their associates are able to operate in London with impunity.

It has been a similar, pitiable picture with regard to many of the other pressing security challenges of the day. Mrs May has equivocated over Huawei and the serious concerns intelligence officials have expressed about China’s involvement in Britain’s forthcoming 5G network, while the rest of our allies in the Five Eyes intelligence community have limited Chinese access, if not banned it altogether.

She has refused to support the US in its latest confrontation with Iran over its malign influence in the Middle East. Her officials have also declined to respond to an overt request from the Trump administration to deal with the British jihadists captured following the recent collapse of the so-called caliphate in Syria. And she has even offered to forge closer defence and intelligence ties with the EU, a move many fear could have serious repercussions for the future of Nato. And so the list goes on.

The question, therefore, is whether any of the Tory leadership contenders have what it takes to repair the disastrous legacy of the May era, especially so far as our relationship with our most important ally, the US, is concerned.

Boris Johnson, the early frontrunner, will certainly believe he has the credentials to do so, even if his sojourn as foreign secretary is remembered more for gaffes, such as his unfortunate remarks about Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, the British-iranian woman jailed in Iran on false charges, than any significant diplomatic triumphs.

Mr Johnson enjoys a strong personal bond with Donald Trump and, together with Nigel Farage, is the only British politician invited to attend a private dinner with the US president during his state visit next week. Mr Trump will also be pleased with Mr Johnson’s pledge to pursue a no-deal Brexit. The Trump administration remains keen to negotiate a trade deal with Britain, which can only be achieved once we have freed ourselves from the EU’S shackles.

Jeremy Hunt, who replaced Mr Johnson as Foreign Secretary, has also won plaudits in Washington, where he is seen as hard-working and mastering the detail of his brief, an attribute not always credited to Mr Johnson.

The US will also be watching closely how the next prime minister handles the vexed issue of defence spending. Under Mrs May there was much talk of undertaking a radical overhaul of our entire national security infrastructure, from the Armed Forces to the intelligence and security services, but little of consequence changed. Indeed, Gavin Williamson’s reward for securing the only tangible change – a modest increase in the defence budget – was to be given the sack.

These, then, are some of the more obvious national security issues that the next prime minister will need to address as a matter of urgency. And how the numerous leadership contenders intend to deal with them should receive the same level of scrutiny as their views on resolving the Brexit crisis.