MR ROBIN COOK has put making Britain a "leading player in a Europe of independent nation states" at the heart of his "mission statement" defining the foreign policy objectives of the new Labour government. The Foreign Secretary gives immediate high priority to ensuring the success of Britain's EU presidency next year.
Mr Cook launched his initiative yesterday. He signalled a radical new era in British foreign policy, pledged to secure prosperity, quality of life, mutual respect and security for Britain.
He placed Europe and the Commonwealth, trade, arms control and respect for human rights at the centre of his new vision. In the first mission statement of its kind, Mr Cook said foreign policy must have "an ethical dimension". He called on the British diplomatic service at home and abroad to work as one to bring the benefits of the new direction to the people of the United Kingdom.
But as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, travelled to Brussels adamant that he will proceed with Labour's plan to cut VAT on domestic fuel, Mr Cook again said it was unlikely Britain would join the proposed single currency in the first wave.
He repeated that the government had not ruled out participation and said any decision would be based on a hardheaded assessment of the economic reality: "Although we have not ruled out British participation, it is unlikely we ourselves will choose to take part in the first wave."
The Liberal Democrat spokesman, Mr Menzies Campbell, gave the mission statement a qualified welcome. While applauding Mr Cook's proposed more rigorous approach to the supply of arms to countries which flout human rights, and his promise of a more constructive approach to Europe, he said: "But if Britain is to be at the heart of Europe, it can only be so if we are members of the single European currency.
The Tory leadership challenger, Mr John Redwood, meanwhile, accused Mr Cook of a mission to mislead: "It combines the naive with the deceptive. He tells us Britain will be leading in Europe. Yet all he has done is surrender more of our rights to self government.
Mr Cook said his new mission would deliver four benefits for Britain: security, by promoting international stability, fostering defence alliances and "actively" promoting arms control; prosperity, by making maximum use of overseas posts to promote trade abroad and boost jobs at home; quality of life, by working with others to protect the world's environment and counter the menace of drugs, crime and terrorism; mutual respect by working through international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which the UK demands for itself.
Other immediate priorities included: an enlarged NATO with strengthened security partnerships throughout Europe; the successful transition to Chinese rule in Hong Kong; agreement on measures to protect the world environment at forthcoming UN conferences; a productive Commonwealth summit, which promotes trade, investment and good government for all its members; and a deeper dialogue with the countries of Asia.