PM Brown message to US: it's time to build, not destroy

Brown message to US: it's time to build, not destroy
Minister signals foreign policy shift ahead of PM's Washington trip
Patrick Wintour and Julian Borger
Friday July 13, 2007
The Guardian

The first clear signs that Gordon Brown will reorder Britain's foreign policy emerged last night when one of his closest cabinet allies urged the US to change its priorities and said a country's strength should no longer be measured by its destructive military power.

Douglas Alexander, the trade and development secretary, made his remarks in a speech in America, the first by a cabinet minister abroad since Mr Brown took power a fortnight ago.

The speech represents a call for the US to rethink its foreign policy, and recognise the virtues of so-called "soft power" and acting through international institutions including the United Nations.

In what will be seen as an assertion of the importance of multilateralism in Mr Brown's foreign policy, Mr Alexander said: "In the 20th century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together. And so we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world." He described this as "a new alliance of opportunity".

He added: "We need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist, active and not passive, and driven by core values, consistently applied, not special interests."

(snip)

Mr Brown is expected to fly to Washington shortly, and the groundwork for the trip is being prepared, with officials recognising the relationship between the new prime minister and George Bush will be very different from Mr Blair's.


Continued @ http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,2125375,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

The subtle shift in British foreign policy
Analysis
By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent BBC News website

~ excerpt ~

It was significant that he chose as his audience the Council on Foreign Relations, a liberal-minded body highly critical of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. It has just published a study by one of its senior fellows, Steven Simon, calling for a US withdrawal.

(snip)

The speech however has to be seen in the context of other measures for change taken by Mr Brown, including the appointment of Mark Malloch Brown, an ex-UN official who clashed with Washington during his time in New York, to a foreign office post dealing with Africa, Asia and the UN itself.

Gordon Brown also stressed to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, whom he met in London on Thursday, that Britain would always aim at multilateralism in foreign policy, though holding its options open for independent action in the final analysis.

That was perhaps code for - no more Iraqs.

So the signals are clear - British foreign policy is going through a subtle shift. The Blair era is over.


Continued @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6897313.stm