{"id":17193,"date":"2022-09-12T13:46:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T09:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/?p=17193"},"modified":"2022-09-16T12:32:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T08:32:16","slug":"one-liz-ends-a-lifetime-of-diplomacy-as-another-risks-squandering-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/one-liz-ends-a-lifetime-of-diplomacy-as-another-risks-squandering-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"One Liz ends a lifetime of diplomacy as another risks squandering it all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Simon Tisdall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen knew how to earn trust and respect around the world. Liz Truss should follow her example<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will other leaders and nations make of Liz Truss in Britain\u2019s unprecedented hour of trial? This untested prime minister must now try to lead the country through a\u00a0crisis of unity and confidence<\/a>\u00a0that may be triggered by the death of her infinitely better-known namesake, Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The global spotlight will illuminate the United Kingdom in coming days in ways that would make a more experienced leader quake. In Truss\u2019s words<\/a>, the Queen was \u201cthe rock on which modern Britain was built\u201d. Yet Truss came to power last week vowing to replace that model with one of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truss frequently talks of deepening post-Brexit UK alliances, of a \u201cnetwork of liberty\u201d, and of constructing \u201ca world where free nations are assertive and in the ascendant\u201d. But her actions to date point not to a \u201cglobal Britain<\/a>\u201d that \u201cleads the way\u201d but to a forlorn Billy-no-mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death of the monarch, who was known and respected by presidents and prime ministers around the world and led the 56-country Commonwealth, will inevitably weaken Britain\u2019s influence, leverage and \u201csoft power\u201d \u2013 whatever Charles III may do to maintain global connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following its withdrawal from the EU, a self-isolating UK, excluded from collective European decision-making, is in any case increasingly bypassed, patronised and ridiculed by allies and enemies alike. By any measure \u2013 GDP<\/a>, currency, debt, influence, military heft \u2013 Britain is drowning, not waving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truss entered office facing multiple problems, including the energy and cost of living crises and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>. But the challenge that faces her now dwarfs all the others in its implications for Britain\u2019s internal constitutional cohesion and future place in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truss admirers describe her as a \u201cvalues-driven\u201d risk-taker. Enemies say she\u2019s an opportunistic ideologue. But she is firstly a child of Brexit, a cause she was late to embrace but has since promoted with all the fervour of a convert.\u00a0Hard-right Brexit instincts<\/a>\u00a0infuse her politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question now for a watching world, as Britain reels, is whether Truss will ditch her us-v-them rhetoric, rein in her Thatcherite prejudices and Europhobia, and rebuild international bridges on which a wounded, semi-asphyxiated \u201caspiration nation\u201d can clamber to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her record for spreading harmony and healing divisions is not encouraging. In the space of 12 inept months as foreign secretary, Truss clumsily aggravated UK relations with all the major international powers. As prime minister, she lacks an electoral mandate and popular support<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s Republicans love her blunt free-trade, free-world diatribes. But Democrats run the US government, and Joe Biden, by all accounts, is seriously unimpressed<\/a>, not least by perceived threats to the Good Friday agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a pointed public intervention only a day after she took office, the White House warned Truss not to jeopardise peace by trying to \u201cundo\u201d the Brexit-related Northern Ireland protocol<\/a>. It implied that a US-UK trade deal, a litmus test of Brexit\u2019s success, could be blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US also worries<\/a> that her antagonism towards the EU undermines joint efforts to confront Russia over Ukraine and encourages rightwing populist, Eurosceptic forces, now on the rise again in Italy and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others have doubts, too. President Emmanuel Macron swiftly congratulated Truss. French commentators were mostly welcoming, although her shifting views, contrasted with the immovability of her hero Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, have earned her a nickname: Iron Weathercock<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truss caused a flutter during the Tory election contest, saying \u201cthe jury is still out\u201d on whether Macron, leader of a key Nato ally, is a \u201cfriend or foe<\/a>\u201d. Such jejune crowd-pleasing is unworthy of a prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet after clashes over post-Brexit fishing rights and cross-Channel migrants as well as Ireland and trade, her attitude to Macron and other EU states remains problematic. Expectations are low in Berlin, Paris and Brussels, which could work to her advantage<\/a> if she\u2019s smart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While shunning Europe, Truss is oddly fixated on the far side of the world. Hopes of developing post-Brexit ties in the Indo-Pacific led her to court Australia, where she agreed a feeble trade deal and the controversial Aukus defence pact<\/a>, and Japan and South Korea<\/a>, countries she styles \u201cbeacons of freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her Mansion House speech<\/a> in April, she rejected the \u201cfalse choice\u201d between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security. \u201cIn the modern world we need both,\u201d she argued. But her calls for a \u201cglobal Nato\u201d, for higher military spending, and hints that Britain may arm Taiwan set her on a collision course with China<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engulfed by crisis at home, Truss may find little time for foreign affairs. Yet the deepening stand-off with Beijing, which decries her \u201cimperial mentality\u201d, and with Russia, which she accuses of \u201cbarbarism\u201d in Ukraine, could disrupt her premiership, especially if desperate Vladimir Putin ups the ante<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truss has insisted Russia be expelled from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. There is no way the west can enforce this demand. She must know this. Or is it another example of a rash, even ignorant disregard for potentially very dangerous consequences<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buoyed by a global wave of sympathy, Truss\u2019s urgent international priority must be to re-connect Britain with traditional friends and allies alienated by a misconceived, mismanaged Brexit<\/a> and the crass follies of her Downing Street predecessor. Despite noisy detractors on the right and left, the UK retains a wealth of experience, ideas and talent to offer a world in dire need of sensible leadership. Truss is correct about this. But she\u2019s part of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world moves on regardless, the wagons keep rolling. Ever adaptable Queen Elizabeth understood this. She nimbly changed with the times. Can prime minister Liz show similar agility and flexibility? Because, right now, Britain and the British risk being left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 we have a small favour to ask. Millions are turning to the Guardian for open, independent, quality news every day, and readers in 180 countries around the world now support us financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe everyone deserves access to information that\u2019s grounded in science and truth, and analysis rooted in authority and integrity. That\u2019s why we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This means more people can be better informed, united, and inspired to take meaningful action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these perilous times, a truth-seeking global news organisation like the Guardian is essential. We have no shareholders or billionaire owner, meaning our journalism is free from commercial and political influence \u2013 this makes us different. When it\u2019s never been more important, our independence allows us to fearlessly investigate, challenge and expose those in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simon Tisdall The Queen knew how to earn trust and respect around the world. Liz Truss should follow her example What will other leaders and nations make of Liz Truss in Britain\u2019s unprecedented hour of trial? This untested prime minister must now try to lead the country through a\u00a0crisis of unity and confidence\u00a0that may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17195,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193\/revisions\/17195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}