Shortly after David Cameron’s arrival in Downing Street, an official observed that the UK prime minister showed slight interest in global affairs. In a phrase recalling the biting satire of the television sitcom Yes Minister, the aide continued that Mr Cameron was more inclined to see the world as “somewhere to go on holiday”.
At the time I thought this a touch unfair. In the British system it is rare for incoming prime ministers to know, or care, much about foreign affairs. Five years later it is evident that the principal markers of Mr Cameron’s foreign and defence policies have been drift and retreat. Some weeks ago he told his office to clear his diary of all “discretionary” travel. America’s Barack Obama and Germany’s Angela Merkel could be left to douse the fires raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. He had an election to fight. So his appearance at this week’s Brussels summit was only a brief break from the campaign.
In retrospect, the signs were indeed there in the early days. The new government embarked on what was called a strategic defence review, promising to reshape the armed forces in the light of new threats and capabilities. The exercise was anything but strategic. The Treasury took control. Unsurprisingly given the size of the nation’s fiscal deficit, the result was a series of deep and haphazard spending cuts.