It is depressing that the British elections have been silent about foreign affairs. Britain has played an important role in global affairs, and if it is to continue to deserve its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council with the right of veto, it must continue to show leadership. This is why it should be easy for Labour challenger Ed Miliband to attack Prime Minister David Cameron for reducing Britain to being a minor player willing to follow American, Chinese or German leadership.
But Miliband’s silence illustrates how the current British leaders are not interested in foreign affairs. After years of blindly following badly planned American forays into Afghanistan and Iraq, Britain has lost its will to be involved. It also helped topple Muammar Gaddafi but left Libya in permanent civil war, and parliament stopped Cameron from ordering British forces to help enforce the red line on Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria when it gassed its own people.
In Europe, Miliband should find it easy to ridicule Cameron’s dismal record, as he willfully abandoned working with governments that share his desire to reform the European Union.
It is dangerous to ignore the outside world and pretend that Britain can go it alone. The mistakes of the past 10 years should not stop Britain from playing its traditional role. But this role should be analysed so that it can revert to a more constructive and inclusive foreign policy to help build the prosperous and interconnected world that we all want. This is what the UK election should be discussing.