For reasons too dull to disclose, I am currently in Finland. However, I am following the British cabinet re-shuffle closely and I see that we have a new foreign secretary.

David Miliband is young (41) and clever – unlike his predecessor Margaret Beckett. She was last seen sobbing inconsolably in the House of Commons, after Tony Blair’s farewell statement. Gordon Brown put a consoling arm around her. Then – that evening – he sacked her. That’s politics.

So what will Miliband be like as foreign secretary? Point one – he is obsessed by global warming. His last job was as environment secretary and he became increasingly pre-occupied by climate change. I would guess that his top personal priority will be working on the post-Kyoto agreement.

He is also at home in the United States. Like many of the brighter young politicians in the Labour Party, he did graduate work in the US.

But a few years ago, Miliband was also given close exposure to the machinations of the European Union. He was appointed as Tony Blair’s personal representative to a group of “wise men”, working on the “Laeken declaration” on the future of Europe – which laid the groundwork for the ill-fated European constitutional convention. Miliband strove mightily to get on with Belgium’s arch-federalist prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, who had convened the group – and even got Verhofstadt to visit his constituency in South Shields in northern England. Apparently Miliband is faintly embarrassed by the whole Laeken experience and would prefer it if people forgot it.

Still, his ability to get on with Verhofstadt illustrates another of his qualities. He is very personable. EU civil servants, who have watched him in action at the Council of Ministers, say that he works the room assiduously – and that he makes a point of trying to speak last in a debate, so that his intervention can summarise and shape the conclusions. He will be well-suited to the diplomatic side of the job. The fact that he looks very young, however, might be a handicap in Asia – where people take you more seriously if you have a bit of grey hair.

The Foreign Office is likely to be pleased by the arrival of Miliband. The big story of the last couple of years has been the sidelining of the Foreign Office, and the increasing centralisation of power and decision-making in 10 Downing Street. Having the less-than-impressive Margaret Beckett to fight the Foreign Office’s corner was not much help. The professional diplomats will be hoping that - because Gordon Brown’s interests are so heavily economic - the Foreign Office under Miliband might undergo a bit of a revival.

But there is an alternative and darker scenario. Even though Tony Blair did run foreign policy from Downing Street – his closest aides were still drawn from the Foreign Office. Brown – on the other hand – has surrounded himself with Treasury people. (The new Downing Street Europe adviser, John Cunliffe, is ex-Treasury). Brown is also a known control-freak, who has reason to be wary of Miliband – who was touted as the likeliest man to fight him for the Labour leadership. So it is entirely possible that – for all his gifts – David Miliband may still be cut out of Brown’s inner circle.

June 28th, 2007 in UK politics | Permalink