News from the New Party

Saturday, June 30, 2007

The Brown inheritance: Britain under attack

There can be little doubt that the recent spate of terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow is an attempt to destabilise the country following last week's change of government, under the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Mercifully so far there have been no casualties, other than of one of the presumed terrorists, who was in the car which exploded at Glasgow Airport, and who was subsequently found to be wearing a device which may or may not have been a "suicide belt". The fact that the three attacks have so far been unsuccessful in their clear aim of causing widespread civilian casualties is scant cause for comfort: the government has raised the national security alert status to "critical", which implies that further attacks are, or may be, imminent.

In the circumstances, the response of the new government is crucial. We have become used to solid performances from Tony Blair and his senior ministers where national security is concerned. It is of the utmost importance that the new government conveys the same sense of determination and competence in this area as its predecessor did. However, it is far too soon to say whether or not this will happen. The new Home Secretary is well regarded but untried in matters of this magnitude. Jacqui Smith has stood firm so far, but her first three days in office have been a severe test. We wish her well.

Nevertheless there is cause for concern elsewhere in Gordon Brown's new government, which principally involve Foreign Policy. The appointment of the former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mark Malloch-Brown has been rightly attacked by the Times:

It was a mistake to appoint the ennobled Mark Malloch Brown to serve with [David Miliband] at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This self-promoting former Deputy UN Secretary-General has made some crude public remarks about the US Administration along with the slightly unhinged assertion that the UN’s failure to act decisively on Darfur is partly the fault of the US and UK for invading Iraq. It will be interesting to see what is uncovered by investigations into the UN Development Programme under his tenure.

Lord Malloch-Brown’s elevation is believed to be part of the Prime Minister’s scheme to bring in "all the talents". He should approach this venture with far more caution. It may sound noble in theory but could easily result in crass tokenism in practice. It risks emulating the parable of the talents in the Bible where in one instance the talent ends up being buried. Politics is a contest of ideas and competence, not an exercise in collecting interesting, superficially independent, names. Tokenism is not the cornerstone of principle.

One might comment similarly on Gordon Brown's offer to Baroness Shirley Williams to advise the government on international nuclear proliferation. In over four decades of political activity, Shirley Williams has thus far had little or no direct contribution to make to this particular area, or indeed to foreign affairs in general, whatever her other expertise may be. Indeed, in a recent edition of the BBC TV Question Time programme, her craven response to a question about the wisdom of knighting Salman Rushdie was described accurately by Christopher Hitchens as "contemptible". Her one connection with foreign affairs would seem to be via a presidency of Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, which has recently warned against confronting Iran, for fear of destabilising the Middle East (as though the region were not unstable enough already), and which has also published a report heavily critical of Tony Blair's Atlanticist foreign policy. There might therefore be cause to wonder what Baroness Williams' advice might be in relation to the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.

The new Foreign Secretary himself, David Miliband, is something of an unknown quantity. Certainly if he applies himself to his new task with the same energy and determination as he brought to the nation's wheelie bins, we shall be seeing plenty of activity. There is as yet, however, no clear indication of what this activity might be, or where it might lead.

All of this matters rather a lot. Terrorism has already brought down one government in Europe - the Aznar government of Spain was defeated in a general election shortly after the Madrid bombings; the new Socialist government immediately announced a withdrawal from Iraq. The West cannot afford another surrender on this scale. British foreign policy must remain focused and determined: idealistic in terms of the need to defend and extend freedom and democracy; realistic in terms of the costs and benefits of intervention, as against failing to intervene. As we have pointed out earlier this week, Tony Blair's domestic programme was largely thwarted by Brown's Treasury - Blair's legacy is manifest largely in his foreign policy. Gordon Brown must not squander his inheritance.

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The Brown inheritance: Britain under attack