Britain’s foreign-policy debate is back
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack return to 10 Downing Street after a cabinet meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, Britain December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Though the world, cut off behind travel bans, has perhaps never felt further away for millions of Britons, one thing has changed in Whitehall over the course of this COVID-blighted winter: It can no longer be said that the only foreign-policy debate in the United Kingdom is about Brexit. With the launch this week of a major new report by the British think tank Chatham House, titled “Global Britain, Global Broker,” there are now two distinct visions emerging of Britain’s role in the world: one positioned in the political center and the other on the right.