British diplomats warn UK foreign policy in crisis

The UK is suffering a crisis of “confidence” in its foreign policy, former British diplomats, intelligence officers and academics have warned, the Guardian reported yesterday.

The crisis left the UK “sidelined in Syria, ineffective in Ukraine, unwilling in Europe and inimical towards refugees,” the report said.

In the report entitled “UK losing clout overseas”, the authors urged Britain to finally settle its relations with Europe at the time that Prime Minister David Cameron prepares to issue a comprehensive list of the changes his government hopes to achieve as part of its EU renegotiation.

According to the Guardian, the authors of the report also said: “Constantly fretting about the formal status of our association with the EU restricts what the UK can in practice achieve through that relationship.”

“In, out, or semi-detached, the fact is that working in and with Europe is a necessary component of nearly every area of policy.”

The report came after intensified negotiations by Cameron about the UK membership in the EU, noting that dismembering from the EU does not undermine British economy, but puts the security of the country at stake.

Cameron’s office issued excerpts from a speech to be delivered today, including the conditions which he will place in order for the UK to remain a member of the EU.

According to the report, the former UK prime ministers and foreign secretaries were “shy” to forge “significant foreign policy engagements,” and thus left the country “self-absorbed and insular.”

In addition, the report reiterated that “there has been concern that the Iraq war foreign policy failure has seen Britain become increasingly peripheral to key decisions in Brussels, Washington and Moscow.”