Necessary and legal
I know the UK is not a great power anymore but being UK Foreign Secretary, has until very recently, carried some heft and influence. But if you are looking for why it is no longer as well regarded a position as before, we need look no further than the current PM and his entourage.
The PM’s own stint as Foreign Secretary was a complete embarrassing, painful, failure. Rudyard Kipling for pities sake, need I say any more?
But the current incumbent is running our glorious leader a close second. In the FT today she has an article about the Northern Ireland Protocol which is going to be read and dissected in foreign ministries around the world.
In it she says:
The government’s bill (to unilaterally change the NIP) is both necessary and legal.
All other options within the current EU mandate are currently exhausted.
Once it is in place “we will have a solution that ensures the agreement is upheld in all its dimensions.”
And many other manifestly inaccurate claims, justifications and perverse interpretations of international law. As well as astoundingly stupid and plainly untrue claims on the role of the EU, the nature of international agreements and even what is happening in Northern Ireland.
The only bright spot is the claim that she still wants these problems solved by negotiation, hinting that this is all a bluff to get more from the EU at talks.
But it is fair to say that other European leaders and their governments are spitting mad about this blatant attempt to tear up a legally binding deal.
The fact that the bill proposed by Liz Truss has won the approval of the ERG, really tells you all you need to know.
There are Tory foreign secretaries still alive today who would have taken a gun into the library, rather than pander to and be directed by any collection of back benchers, let alone the ERG.
But then Ms Truss is ambitious, and an honourable woman. We and the PM can trust her.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.