Bernard Ingham: Britain must not turn its back on a dangerous world

He also tried to get rid of me for the heinous crime of watering the wicket – that is, telling the world what her policy was rather than his. What else did he expect?

I mention all this because I’m hanged if I know what our foreign policy is these days, beyond the Tory pledge to have a referendum on EU membership. Nor do the other parties seem to be giving it much thought in the run up to the election.

It may be a tacit admission that Britain can no longer police the world. If so, we may have made progress.

But it is nonetheless dangerous when the world is beset by two ticking time bombs – Russian ambitions in Eastern Europe and the ruthlessly sadistic terrorist “Islamic State” (IS) caliphate 
in the Middle East.

This is not to mention the unwillingness of the indebted West to spend money on defence, oil-rich Arabs playing games with oil supply while IS/al-Qaida slaughter hostages, the fragility of the eurozone and an American second term president wending his way out.

We are, it seems, playing all this by ear. Perhaps it is the only way to play it. But, if it is, we need to recognise that different parties respond differently to what they hear and read into situations.

An idealistic Labour Party, the (demented) Greens and the Liberal Democrats are likely to be soft touches – albeit to varying degrees – in this menacing world; the Scottish Nationalists isolationist; and Ukip a largely closed book, apart from washing the European dust off our feet.

And the Tories? They are, after all, the leading party in current government and asking to be allowed to finish the half-done job of balancing the nation’s books.

We ought at least to have some idea how they propose to play the world to the end of this decade and beyond.

Let me rehearse what we need. You can then judge how far the Tories measure up and how far the other parties are likely to adopt the same approach in the medium-term.

First, the overall purpose. It is to contain Russia, led by that macho-nationalist fanatic Vladimir Putin, within its existing borders, recognising that things could get a lot more tense and hazardous if he nibbles at Estonia. Latvia and Lithuania whose integrity is guaranteed by Nato.

Similarly it is to contain and eventually eradicate IS as an Ebola-type pestilence.

To achieve both those things we have to demonstrate Western purpose not just by spending the required two per cent of GDP on defending ourselves but also by a far more committed determination to protect the democracies. That requires Nato to forge a much more dynamic alliance.

At the same time, while preparing for the worst, we should make it clear that our objective is peace. The last thing we want is war, but...

Here Britain needs to emphasise the importance of strong Western economies to finance proper defence, resolving the sapping state of the eurozone – the latest deal with Greece has merely postponed trouble – and ensuring the trans-Atlantic alliance has a fully-engaged USA.

We are in a relatively strong position to work for all three.

While fully working with China, the Far East and the emerging economies, especially as traders, we also need to speak frankly to the Muslim states, whether oil-rich or not.

IS is our problem partly because of its terrorism, but above all it is their problem in terms of security, morality and the image it gives of Islam.

How murderously and medievally primitive do they wish to be seen?

The same goes for Islamic communities in the West. They 
have to demonstrate beyond doubt 
that they will not tolerate Islamic terrorists and jihadists in their midst either.

This will require far more Muslim plain-speaking and community action than we have seen so far.

I would be much happier if we were picking up from the Tories something more than requiring Europe to reform. It is as if Great Britain, for all its modern limitations as a world power, has gone into its shell.

If we go on like this, I fear the global crease will be littered with broken bats. And there’s no Maggie to blame any more.