Counterpoint: Blame UK politics not diplomats for EU mess
A former ambassador says it's wrong to blame the FCO for Britain's EU problems. The real blame lies with politicians who can't make up their mind
- 3 August 2013Foreign Office needs to understand why Britain needs a new relationship with the EU
The Foreign Office seems to have ignored the Prime Minister’s own Bloomberg speech, which made clear it is now government policy to negotiate a new relationship with the rest of the EU
- 28 July 2013British Foreign Office lists Israel alongside serial human rights offenders
The British Foreign Office's update to its Human Rights and Democracy report lists Israel alongside dozens of human rights abusers and focuses more on the Jewish state than on Iran
- 29 January 2013Unbelievable (?) UK hypocrisy on Israel, again...
The British Foreign Secretary's recent remarks critical of Israel beggar belief
- 2 December 2012Britain heads for Israel sell-out at the UN
The prospect of Britain backing the Palestinian UN bid shows just how deep anti-Israel feeling goes at the Foreign Office
- 27 November 2012UK: Ignore the Commonwealth at your peril
Britons, we can look across the oceans to our Anglosphere partners and beyond the European shores. We do have a choice
- 16 November 2012Is the Foreign Office spending so much on champagne it can't keep track?
The UK Foreign Office has been unable to account for all the champagne it quaffs because "dealing with [the request] would exceed the appropriate [cost] limit."
- 15 October 2012Assange, Asylum and Immunity
Embassies have replaced churches as the setting for confrontations between rival legal orders and concepts of fairness. Assange is in a different world, writes a former UK ambasador
- 17 August 2012Ambassador Gould's comments on Israel's popularity show a lack of clear thinking
Matthew Gould's comments reveal an institutional catatonia at the FCO. One that will ensure Britain's role in the Middle East declines in perpetuity
- 6 August 2012An Olympic insult to Israel’s murdered athletes
A 12 word exchange tells you all you need to know about the international community and Israel
- 27 July 2012Another glimpse into delusional British attitudes to Israel
A recent speech given by the British Ambassador to the Knesset reveals yet more about the FCO's underlying attitudes towards Israel
- 13 July 2012Transatlantic Intelligence: The missed opportunity of the Joint Strategy Board
In an excerpt from his forthcoming report for the Bow Group on the state of the UK Intelligence Community, Dr. James D. Boys laments the lost opportunity of the Joint Strategy Board
- 11 July 2012Britain’s Coalition Government promises localism at home, but not in other people’s countries
One hopes that the localism agenda, at the heart of the coalition agreement, will find its way into the policy machine at the FCO before an unaccountable body opposes itself on more countries
- 15 May 2012UK Foreign Office admits to ignoring Palestinian Authority terror incitement
Britain is tying itself in knots over Palestinian terrorism, as a shameful and shocking admission from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office shows all too clearly
- 18 April 2012Did you know that you're paying for Texans to endorse anthropogenic climate change?
Rick Perry rightly criticises the British Foreign Office for attempting to change Texan minds on climate change
- 5 April 2012