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Soriek  9mo ago (text post)   1604 thread views

Transnational Thursdays 26

This is a weekly thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or IR history. I usually start off with coverage of some current events from a mix of countries I follow personally and countries I think the forum lives in or might be interested in. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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United Kingdom

Suella Braverman is out as Home Secretary, to be replaced by the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly:

He will inherit a department dealing with the fallout from Ms. Braverman’s face-off with Britain’s largest police force, the Metropolitan Police of London, over pro-Palestinian marches in the capital.

Also looming on his agenda: a decision due Wednesday from the Supreme Court on the lawfulness of the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, a signature policy for the Conservatives that has been divisive with the public…

In his most recent role, Mr. Cleverly oversaw Britain’s foreign relations amid the uncertainty prompted by Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and wars raging in Gaza and in Ukraine.

It’s an interesting decision to shuffle the Foreign Secretary at a time when international relations seem so tumultuous, and he’s being replaced by…David Cameron? This rather surprising outcome caught quite a few of us off guard, including these commentators (are all reporters in Britain this brutal?) It must be surreal leaving power after Brexit and coming back to whatever exactly the Tory party is now. Commentators don’t have much to say with regards to his nomination:

“Sunak is not that interested in foreign policy,” said Jonathan Powell, a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Tony Blair. “This is a case of, ‘who can I give foreign policy to so I don’t have to worry about it for the next year?’”

But the domestic politics of Mr. Cameron’s appointment “are pretty hard to divine,” Professor Bale said, “leaving aside, of course, the day or two of distraction it will provide from Suella Braverman’s belated departure.”

In defense of his selection, Cameron has significant experience dealing with foreign statesmen and was generally well liked abroad. On the other hand, the big issue he’ll be thrust into is Israel and Palestine, and the last PM I know being brought back as a Foreign Secretary was Balfour, and that sure didn’t end out too great for Palestine…

Mr. Cameron’s six years in Downing Street will make him an exceedingly well-connected foreign secretary. But critics are scrutinizing the foreign policy positions of his government, some of which look questionable in hindsight.

Mr. Cameron played host to President Xi Jinping of China in 2015, heralding a “golden era” in relations with Beijing. He joined a U.S.-led military intervention in Libya in 2011, which resulted in the overthrow of its dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, but was criticized in Britain for the messy aftermath.

the last PM I know being brought back as a Foreign Secretary was Balfour

Nice story, but unfortunately it was Douglas-Home

I stand appropriately humbled.

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