The flip-flop farce that is Cameron's foreign policy

When it comes to developing British foreign policy, David Cameron appears to be sinking in an embarrassing swamp of confusion and hypocrisy which could explain the United Kingdom’s diminishing influence on the world stage.

Timing is critical in foreign affairs so it’s hardly surprising that eyebrows were raised when Cameron invited one of the world’s most brutal dictators to visit Britain, less than 24 hours after the regime over which he presides condemned to death the country’s only democratically-elected president. While Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who seized power from Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in July 2013, will take the invitation as a green light to carry on with his brutal excesses against his own people and uphold the Israel-led siege of Gaza, others will view the invitation quite differently.

Many, including the masses in Tahrir Square who welcomed the British prime minister as the first world leader to visit Egypt following the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime back in February 2011, are confused. The British government had backed the pro-democracy uprising after ditching its long-time friend and dictator Mubarak quicker than a very hot cake.

While holding talks with the Muslim Brotherhood, revolutionaries and other Egyptian officials during the Arab Spring, Cameron said that this was a “great opportunity” to push for democracy to be established in Egypt. His coalition government openly courted the Brotherhood leadership and officials when Mohamed Morsi was elected — democratically, remember — as president. A number of those now languishing in Cairo’s infamously inhospitable prison cells, including the Islamic movement’s international spokesman Gehad El-Haddad, were given the red carpet treatment in Downing Street by Cameron in those heady post-revolution days.

The love-in came to an abrupt end when it emerged that others in the Middle East were not as impressed with Cameron’s lickspittle performance in Tahrir Square and during the months that followed. Suddenly Cameron and the Foreign Office squirmed in silence as two of their biggest customers in terms of weapon sales – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – made it abundantly clear that Egypt’s generals had their unconditional support to topple and then eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood from the political and social landscape. With pledges of $12 billion dollars (four times the combined aid provided to Egypt by America and Europe) to back Saudi and UAE demands, the fate of the fledgling democracy in Cairo was sealed.

Now Cameron is rolling out the red carpet again, but this time for former General Al-Sisi and his entourage. It seems to matter not that the invitation was extended less than a day after President Morsi was sentenced to death, or that more human rights atrocities are being carried out under Al-Sisi than ever before.

When pressed on Egypt’s human rights record, Cameron’s office said that the proposed meetings would allow British officials to “raise matters of concern.” If that’s the case, then why doesn’t the British government extend similar invitations to Vladimir Putin, Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong-Un, to name but three, to talk about human rights? Maybe after Ramadan he could extend an invitation to the Taliban to take tea in the Downing Street parlour. Why not? It’s just as illogical.

What Cameron seems to have overlooked in all of this is Saudi Arabia’s softening attitude towards the Muslim Brotherhood since the arrival of new King Salman Bin Abdulaziz on the throne. Had the Foreign Office not been dumbed down (a process that began with the arrival of Tony Blair) Middle East experts would have been on tap to tip-off the prime minister that the Saudi king now seems ready to make amends and extend the hand of friendship to the Brotherhood. Sadly, it seems that Cameron and Co are increasingly reliant on US neocon think tanks like the Henry Jackson Society for analysis of events in the region; it’s a bit like asking Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu for advice on how to kick start the Middle East peace process.

In recent weeks King Salman has met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince has visited Qatar, a country which openly and fully supports the Brotherhood. All have expressed outrage at Morsi’s treatment. Even Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Bin Faisal admitted recently: “We do not have a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood; our problem is with a small group affiliated to this organisation.”

More tellingly, around 160 Muslim scholars have signed a statement calling on the Saudi monarch to intervene in a bid to have the death sentence lifted from the first democratically-elected president in Egypt’s history.

In the flip-flop world of Planet Cameron, the British prime minister may have landed himself in a hole, out of which he can’t dig himself. Now that he’s invited Al-Sisi he can’t very well un-invite him although a few phone calls from Riyadh may try to persuade him otherwise.

If you think this is all rather too fanciful, then let us consider the Muslim Brotherhood dossier commissioned back in 2014; that particular item has been gathering dust on Cameron’s shelves for more than a year now. It was written by Sir John Jenkins, Britain’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who was asked to examine the Brotherhood’s philosophy, politics, modus operandi and alleged links to any radical militancy. According to insiders, far from exposing a sinister network, it clears the group of any wrongdoing and has thus plunged Cameron into another foreign policy fiasco.

The dossier was commissioned by Cameron after pressure from the UAE and Saudi who both, at the time, accused the movement of being a terrorist group. In the fast-changing world of Middle East politics, it’s quite feasible that all three will become new best friends by this autumn, leaving Cameron out in the cold, out of his depth and looking rather silly.

All of this serves to place a question mark over Britain’s influence in world affairs. At one time, it used to lead in international affairs and decision-making, but now it appears that Britain has become a political football to be kicked around and used by tyrants, despots and dictators.

A lack of trust in its own available analytical expertise and the flip-flop farce that is David Cameron’s foreign policy serve to make Britain nothing less than a bit part player in the world today. The growing dossier of evidence includes Al-Sisi’s invitation to visit London.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.