In a splurge of activity, William Hague gave both an interview to the FT and another foreign policy speech at RUSI outlining the views of a Conservative government. It was time for an update on Tory thinking, not least because David Cameron’s description of his policy as “liberal conservatism” and his unwillingness to march into a “massive euro bust-up” has had little...

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg says the UK must not automatically follow the US on key foreign policy issues.

Lady Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, hit back at her critics, by blaming rivalry among the EU's institutions for slow progress in establishing the bloc's new diplomatic service

The EU's foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, tells MEPs Europe has a "once in a generation opportunity" to build a powerful diplomatic service.

Anxiety about the abilities of the European Union's foreign policy chief and quarrels over the new diplomatic service are casting shadows over the EU's efforts to maximise its global influence

Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, the European External Action Service is intended to give the Union a greater role in foreign policy. Yet its scope and competences are the subject of fierce debate among EU countries.

Earlier this year, Transatlantic Trends, an annual survey of public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, was published. Key highlights from the survey included a quadrupling of European support for President Obama's handling of foreign policy. But what really caught my eye was how badly the relationship between the West and Turkey had frayed. 65 percent of Turks do not think it is likely th...

The first skirmishes have broken out in what promises to be a ferocious institutional battle over who will control the European Union's common foreign policy, as member states fight off attempts from the European Commission to dominate the bloc's budding diplomatic service

Herb Carmen, the Navy's Thinker in Residence at the Center for a New American Security and someone whose work I am coming to enjoy, has written a blog post that Tom Ricks has picked up on his Foreign Policy blog here. All is well thus far for the unsuspecting reader--except that I was led to Ricks' post by a post by Carmen on Facebook in which he links to Ricks' post. Carmen appends...

If the Tories win power (still a big “if” these days), William Hague will walk into King Charles Street, be greeted by the FCO’s Permanent Secretary Peter Ricketts, meet his new staff and be briefed on the Office he will lead and the foreign challenges Britain faces. There will be plenty on his plate. Calls from foreign dignitaries, preparations for forthcoming summits, a discuss...