Choose Your Weapons, By Douglas Hurd
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Focusing on a dozen Foreign Secretaries from the last 200 years, this book starts with a bang. In an 1809 duel, an ex-Foreign Secretary shot a holder of the post in the thigh.
Though this dangerous posturing casts doubt on the strategic abilities of Lord Castlereagh and George Canning, Hurd insists the two men would have made "a truly great Foreign Secretary" if their talents had been compounded.
Canning's approach was "unilateral, noisy, vaguely idealistic", while Castlereagh emphasised "the building of alliances". Exploring British oscillation between these poles, Hurd is astute about Tony Blair, who laid down conditions for humanitarian intervention in 1999, but ignored these conditions "when it came to the point in 2003".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments