Articles
Reconsidering Britain’s role in the world
This is a discussion paper prepared for Compass to try to encourage a discussion of an alternative and better foreign policy for the UK. It was overtaken by the calling an early general election and therefore sadly the discussion did...
Is Keir Starmer misremembering Labour’s 1997 victory? I was there, and we were radical
The opposition leader and his advisers are wrong if they think that Labour needs to water down policies on tax and the climate crisis to win again.
Britain’s aid budget could soon become little more than a slush fund for business
Rumours swirl around whether the 0.7% pledge will last. In the week DfID is abolished, there is real cause for concern.
The Guardian’s false allegations of antisemitism
Clare responds to false charges of antisemitism made by Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland.
Covid-19: What the world can teach us
Clare reflects on the possible lessons to be learned from the Covid crisis.
The Creation of DFID
I imagine that most of the Dfid alumni were there when we established Dfid. It will be 25 years in 2 years time. I still feel proud of what we achieved together. The question of whether the Overseas Development Agency...
Preface to Engaging the World: The Making of Hamas’s Foreign Policy by Daud Abdullah
When Daud asked me to provide a preface for his book on Hamas foreign policy, I was keen to agree. This was partly because I respect his work on the question of Palestine. This is an issue that raises great...
Beyond Trump’s ‘deal of the century’.
Trump’s America with its current slogan, 'America First', will surely weaken US interest in the region. The growing tension between Europe and the United States might even lead Europe to an independent policy toward the Middle East.
Chilcot a year on: UK still America’s poodle.
Clare Short argues that the Chilcot Report will not lead to any substantive changes to government and that the system that allowed Blair to subvert due process and constitutional custom has been left in place.
The shame of the Iraq War will live with me forever.
I tried to achieve better decisions on Iraq with the partial information available to me in a ministerial environment that was intolerant of calls for caution. I failed and this will live with me for the rest of my life.
Blair misled the country over Iraq. Something similar could happen again.
The Chilcot Report offers a devasting critique of the events that led to the Iraq War and argues persuasively that without sufficient safeguards, the same could happen again.
The Chilcot Report will not give the people what they want.
The aim of the report is to learn lessons from past mistakes, but public expectation will be looking for blame. This clash of expectations may well lead to a sense of disappointment.