Labour's struggle for a viable foreign policy - the Article

British Foreign Policy Group Researcher, Flora Holmes, wrote for opinion site the Article, arguing that with Britain facing a momentous upheaval of our foreign policy strategy, it's important to have a serious debate about our international presence - and the Labour Party should be a part of that. As a result, Labour foreign policy needs to be properly articulated.

Flora said: "Labour has spent the weeks since the election “reflecting” on what went wrong. Depending on where you sit on the political spectrum, the answer ranges from the party’s Brexit policy, to Corbyn’s leadership, to its radical manifesto.

Labour’s domestic policies won both ridicule and admiration — but the Labour foreign policy offer has been largely absent from the leadership contest. Given the basis of many attacks on Corbyn’s leadership was that he was “anti-Western”, a “security threat”, or a “terrorist sympathiser”, this is puzzling."

She went on to say: "the candidates must walk a fine line between taking what was popular from Corbyn’s offering, while appearing more willing to engage with Britain’s traditional allies. At least on military intervention, Corbyn has mostly been on the popular side of public opinion. Polling by YouGov in 2017 revealed that 55 per cent of Brits agreed that the UK and the US were wrong to take military action against Iraq in 2003, compared to just 18 per cent who believed the decision was right. Corbyn, a staunch opponent of the Iraq War, has spoken out against proposed UK military intervention time and again.

In championing issues like conflict prevention, peace-building and climate diplomacy, Labour was once again in line with mainstream thinking. Fifty-four per cent of voters before the election said that climate change was an important enough issue to influence their vote. The figure was 74 per cent for those under 25."

You can read the full piece here.

The British Foreign Policy Group is an independent, non-partisan think tank based in London. Through dynamic research, events and networks, we seek to strengthen the UK’s international engagement, and advance our understanding of global affairs in the 21st Century.

For more British Foreign Policy Group research, comment and events, sign up to our Newsletter.