Britain’s world standing ‘badly tarnished’ since Brexit, says David Miliband

‘We are paying the price of comforting but ill-informed delusions’

Former foreign secretary David Miliband (LBC)

Britain’s international standing in a turbulent world has been severely tarnished through delusions, hubris and a cavalier attitude to the rule of law, former foreign secretary David Miliband has warned.

The actions of successive British governments since Brexit and assumptions of superiority have left the country with the task of rebuilding trust and credibility with the European Union and wider afield, he said.

But Mr Miliband, who left the House of Commons to become chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, in New York, refused to be drawn on whether he would return to domestic politics. Asked by Andrew Marr on LBC whether intended to seek a seat at the next election, he responded.“That’s not been decided yet. That’s not done.... If you start thinking about your next job, you get yourself into trouble.”

“The Labour Party has, thank God, put itself into a position where it’s got good people leading it,” he said. “It’s developing its plans for government. That’s something that I think is really essential for the country that I really care about.”

In a later speech at Chatham House, he outlined his view of what had gone wrong with Britain’s geopolitical strategy and what could be done to try and put it right.

“We are paying the price of comforting but ill-informed delusions,” he said. “Hubris about our negotiating strength in the Brexit negotiations, our ability to defy the maths of budget and trade deficits, the willingness of Commonwealth countries to defer to British leadership, the unlimited bounty of negotiating our own trade deals, our right to sit and pontificate from the top table, is the wrong mindset.

“People notice that our influence abroad is based on pragmatism, legality, stability … we’ve been badly tarnished by our own choices. I’m thinking of the blind assertions that we put up with … the inability to find what Brexit means … the threats to break international law over the still unfinished business of the Northern Ireland protocol.”

He added: “Brexit is a fact: but it did not need to be as bad as this. And foreign policy offers a prime area where we must forge a common agenda with the EU. We should be all-in on European energy security.  We should be cooperating with the EU on security and defence, and trying to help bridge EU and Nato.

“We should be shoulder to shoulder with the EU on climate. The current government has highlighted a common European approach to migration. That should include minimum standards for refugees and asylum-seekers.”

Mr Miliband stressed that “sovereignty does not trump interdependence” but there was a need for recognition that decisions of other countries will have an impact on the UK.

“We should be guided by the imperatives of speaking with humility not hubris, of acting with others not alone, of pursuing a rules-based order against the law of the jungle, and ensuring that our domestic actions are in sync, not opposition, with our foreign policy aspirations.”