Tory Foreign Policy and the Muslim World

William Hague the Tory Shadow Foreign Secretary recently gave an interesting if not well publicised speech on the Tory approach to Foreign Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

London Muslim found the speech an interesting adaption from Lord Palmerston, a previous Tory Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister who spoke about "enlightened national Interest".

Hague, who in 2006 described Israel's brutal assault on Lebanon as "disproportionate" something shamefully the Labour Govt under Blair refused to do devoted a significant section of his speech to the Muslim world.

While I disagree with his view on the need to maintain a British Military presence in Afghanistan the tone of the speech appeared to contain less imperial hubris than the Blair years although that's not difficult, slightly less interventionist and certainly more pragmatic. A Tory Govt would work with Muslim countries, as Hague put it, "in Foreign policy, idealism must always be tempered with realism, even those countries, like many of the Gulf States, which are making democratic reforms will do so at varying paces and sometimes over an extended period"

William Hague is not a Michael Ancram who before announcing his retirement called for an engagement with Hamas however, he is also thankfully not a Neo- Con like Michael Gove whose dual loyalty to Israel is well known. As a result it's interesting to note the mischievous recent remarks by George Osborne and possible future differences about Tory Foreign Policy which was picked up by both Paul Waugh and Michael Crick.