Following David Cameron’s visit last month, the Defence Secretary made a timely trip to the Middle East this week. The Right Hon Grant Shapps was an inspired choice to visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories just before the UN Security Council Ceasefire Vote in New York. He is one of the few MPs who is respected by the Israeli government, so he can finesse the tricky balancing act created by British interests in the region. His stated aim of the visit, “to accelerate the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance into Gaza and efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages” sums up the current dilemma of advocating a Rules Based Approach to international relations while trying to deal effectively with hate-filled terrorist organisations.
Unlike France, Britain does not often deviate from American foreign policy when it comes to a UN Security Council debate. The mantra: “you are either with us or against us” has been heard repeatedly from the other side of the Atlantic for twenty two years and led successive governments to positioning Britain as America’s leading ally, so it is not surprising that Britain did not vote for the UN Secretary’s ceasefire.
There are two important consequences of this development. The first is the increasing difficulty Britain and America will have in persuading international partners that they should support them against China and Russia. The second is the growing importance of Britain’s military bases in Cyprus. When I hosted a previous Defence Secretary there before the Gulf War, the island was considered to be a side-show compared with the bases in Germany and Northern Ireland. Now, the strategic sites at Ay Nik and RAF Akrotiri are arguably the jewels in the “overseas” crown.
British Defence Secretary Visiting Cyprus In 1990
Rupert Wieloch 