Vaccine shortage shows how Brexit Britain needs a friend in India

Vaccine shortage shows how Brexit Britain needs a friend in India

So yes, we might have arrived where we are more by accident than carefully designed statecraft. But following Brexit, it makes sense for the UK to start reestablishing itself on the world stage through a security agenda, where it has undoubted strengths: a top class diplomatic corps, a prominent seat at the Nato table and membership of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. 

The review is currently uncosted and certainly not perfect. The decision to increase the cap on nuclear weapons feels like a policy specifically designed to put Labour in a bind. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which we fire off 180 nuclear warheads and are left kicking ourselves that we don't have another 80 to let loose. There is also, for the time being, a very obvious Europe-shaped hole in the nation's foreign and defence policies.

That said, security should be an area in which the UK could start mending its relationship with the EU. Some criticised the Government for keeping intelligence sharing and foreign policy out of the scope of the Brexit agreement, arguing it reduced our leverage during the negotiations. Now it looks like an astute omission; an area that is hopefully untarnished by the rankle and acrimony