Hague: EU partnership as important as US
William Hague says Tories would advance new UK foreign policy through both US and EU
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William Hague has said a future Conservative government would advance a distinct foreign policy for the UK through both the EU and the US.
Accusing Labour of neglecting its duties on foreign policy, the shadow foreign secretary said a Tory government would look to establish new diplomatic relationships beyond its traditional spheres of influence.
Mr Hague said the Conservatives would also work to re-establish the special relationship with the United States which he accused the prime minister of mismanaging, saying Gordon Brown "has never realised that no government will ever gain from treating its own people or the rest of the world like fools".
And he defined more clearly than any Conservative frontbencher so far why the party is opposed to the Lisbon treaty.
Mr Hague said: "Let us be clear on the reasons for our opposition to the Lisbon Treaty and our call for a referendum: the ever greater centralisation of power beyond the democratic control of the people is not in keeping with the needs of the 21st century; it is against the spirit of our age; it diminishes our ability to pursue our own global relationships, and in its lack of accountability and legitimacy it goes against our fundamental belief that people should only be led and governed with their consent."
He called for a new enlightened foreign policy which would promote free trade and sound development aid, give greater energy to the cause of Middle East peace, do more to prevent conflict in Africa and ensure international law was respected and upheld.
In a speech that was designed to lay out the Conservative view of the world in the 21st century Mr Hague said: "We should never be ashamed of saying we will promote our own national interest, for the British national interest is no narrow agenda."
He added that a Conservative government would pursue that national interest both through the EU and the alliance with North America as well as the Commonwealth which he accused Labour of ignoring. He called for a special relationship with India recognising the "relative shrinking of Britain's and Europe's economic weight".
He said: "We must all the more uphold our own values, doing so not by imposing them on others but by being an inspiring example of them ourselves."
Mr Hague said the Conservatives would implement a National Security Council which would properly integrate foreign, defence, energy, home and international development departments. The Tories would also seek the reform of older international institutions such as the United Nations and the effective use of new ones such as the G20. And they would support a European Union but only one that acted by agreement among nations rather than one that placed president or foreign minister above all member states.
And he offered an olive branch to traditionally hostile countries, with whom the Conservatives have had fractured relations accepting that "the scale of the global threats requires a strong and effective relationship with China, and that the door should be open to improved relations with Russia if an appropriate response is forthcoming".
But he offered a stern warning to Iran, pledging powerful sanctions from the EU unless it cooperated with the international community over its uranium enrichment programme.