The unseemly row that has broken out between Britain’s prime minister and the country’s defence chiefs points to a much deeper problem. British foreign policy is in a state of confusion, as comfortable old certainties crumble away.
David Cameron instructed Britain’s generals – “You do the fighting, I’ll do the talking.” The trouble is that Mr Cameron wants Britain to continue to behave like a major power, with less and less financial and military muscle to back it up. This gap between rhetoric and reality is no longer simply embarrassing – it is becoming dangerous.
Britain’s economic difficulties are a big part of the problem. But changes in the wider world also mean that tired slogans favoured by successive governments are wearing very thin.
