David Cameron’s foreign policy has come under attack from one of his own side from across the pond.

William Inboden, senior vice-president of the right-wing Legatum Institute and a former senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council (for the Bush administration), offered scathing criticism on the Foreign Policy website.

He said the administration’s foreign policy plans “remain elusively vague”.

Under different headers he offered scathing words for the shadow administration, saying at one point:

Also thus far lacking among Tory leaders is any substantial geo-strategic analysis of the state of the world. There are the usual platitudes about globalization, the challenge of failing states, balancing interests and ideals, etc. But there is little of sophistication said about the underlying shifts in balances of power, the tension between the nation-state and sub- and trans-national actors, the salience of ideology, or the tectonic forces of history.

Ouch.

Mr Inboden also advises that Michael Gove should take a lead on counter-terrorism. This may placate the neo-conservative wing of the Tories, though it might clash with Cameron’s more pragmatic approach (he admonished Israel last year when it invaded Gaza in a way, which Gove would not do).

He adds:

One gets the inescapable sense that British Conservatives (like Labour) still look to the United States to set much of the foreign policy agenda, irrespective of which president occupies the White House.

Which is unsurprising. It’s likely that Tory foreign policy will be more dictated by Obama’s priorities than Cameron’s.

But he adds, rather cuttingly,

Yet nor are there any Conservative ideas yet advanced that seem compelling in the face of the profound challenges of today’s world, or that inspire hope for a landmark new era in British foreign policy.

Over at the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman says of the article:

Inboden strives to be polite and positive; the Tories are the Republicans’ sister party, after all. But his critique of Conservative thinking on foreign policy is, I think, fairly devastating. Tory thinking comes across as “anemic”, empty and – even – defeatist.

Reader comments

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3. Liberal Conspiracy

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4. See, this is why you should read Diplomatic Impunity first and foremost « Diplomatic Impunity

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   [Original tweet]

6. Stephen Newton

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