Is David Cameron about to have one of his Garibaldi moments?
James Forsyth 4:09pm
To date, this government has not had much of a foreign policy. Where there should have been grand
strategy there has been trade promotion.
But this appears to be changing. It is certainly striking that Cameron is the first western leader to visit post-Mubarak Egypt.
Cameron himself is, normally, at the realist end of the foreign policy spectrum. But, as one close friend observes, one of the most important things to grasp in understanding the Prime Minister is that Garibaldi is one of his great heroes. As Cameron told Charles Moore, he admires Garibaldi’s ‘romantic nationalism'.
It is not difficult to imagine the Cameron who loves Garibaldi—a man who planned to liberate all the subjugated peoples of Europe—being inspired by the revolutionaries of Tahir Square. Remember how Cameron suddenly found his voice over Georgia two and a half years ago. Cameron’s tour of the Middle East this week gives him the chance to put Britain on the side of reform in the region and on the right side of history. It is his chance to show that he is as much the statesman as the salesman.
Previous
GCM
February 21st, 2011 4:17pm Report this commentStatesman, not salesman, meme takes something of a battering as it's revealed he has six arms firms on the plane.
Staggeringly stupid. Unless the next destination is Israel, that means DC is flogging weapons to tyrants.
Chris lancashire
February 21st, 2011 4:19pm Report this commentI do hope Cameron is not about to develop a "grand strategy" and sticks to being a "salesman" rather than a "statesman".
Tony Blair was a statesman with a grand strategy and look what happened - hundreds of thousands of deaths, no discernible improvement in invaded states and the undying hatred of the muslim world.
Nope, Cameron - stick to being a salesman.
Alex Gallagher
February 21st, 2011 4:23pm Report this commentIt could be a two-edged swrord, it looks good to be the first western leader to visit Egypt after the overthrow of Mubarak, but it also risks giving legitmacy to the generals.....
Chris W
February 21st, 2011 4:33pm Report this commentPerhaps the nice man wants to sponsor a Free School??
Norman Dee
February 21st, 2011 4:34pm Report this commentI would say, "choose your battles" Blair chose to become involved in the Middle East, and as Chris pointed look where that got us. There is a much more directly involved battle that needs fighting back here, with similarities in that forces from within a once thought of friendly community are battling to completely undermine our democracy, lets get that right first. The Middle east will get where it is going with or without our help.
David Ossitt
February 21st, 2011 4:37pm Report this commentGiuseppe Garibaldi a very great man but his biscuits are awful.
David Ossitt
February 21st, 2011 4:42pm Report this commentChris lancashire
“Tony Blair was a statesman”
Hello Chris; I must disagree, Tony Blair was and still is a flimflam man, a twentieth century snake oil salesman, an accomplished liar.
A statesman, never.
Tankus
February 21st, 2011 4:48pm Report this commentNeeds a couple of huskies for the photo op ...
And its job done ,,mah son
Don't forget the stick of rock for the kids , should get them dead cheap as tourisms down ..there is a surplus !
Gawain
February 21st, 2011 5:02pm Report this commentThis needs to be kept in perspective. As a result of Labour's disastrous foreign policy and military setbacks this country is now a second division player in foreign affairs to the U.S., China and "Europe". I am not sure the commentariat in this country has quite woken up to the loss of respect and influence we have suffered over the last thirteen years. Cameron's trip will make a big splash in this country but is unlikely to have a major impact internationally. He deserves real credit for taking the opportunity to visit Egypt at a critical time and those parts of the Middle East where we still have some influence. I hope he listens and learns carefully as it is going to take a great deal patient, professional diplomacy for some years to sort out the wreckage left by Blair, Brown and Miliband. Funny how silent MiliBalls have been for the last two days. Probably don't want to answer awkward questions about Libya !!
david
February 21st, 2011 5:11pm Report this commentThe Risorgimento what did it actually achieve? Well it led a united Italy into WW1 and 500,000 dead, Fascism, a ludicrous attempt to build an empire in Africa an even bigger disaster in WW2 and so on.
Perhaps admiration for Garibaldi might be a little misplaced.
Chris lancashire
February 21st, 2011 5:18pm Report this commentDavid Ossit: it wasn't meant as a compliment.
Dave B
February 21st, 2011 5:18pm Report this comment@David Ossitt
Tosh. Garibaldi biscuits are yummy!
Nick
February 21st, 2011 5:41pm Report this commentYou seem to imply that trade promotion is a bad thing.
I'm surprised Cameron doesn't get more credit for banging the drum about British exports. In his first six months we had trade trips to both China and India.
Cameron has done more for British industry in six months than Brown managed in 13 years.
In2minds
February 21st, 2011 5:43pm Report this commentCameron and Garibaldi, yet more controversy.
Nick
February 21st, 2011 5:49pm Report this commentThe things you learn from wikipedia. Prosecco ?
"Popular with British consumers as a snack for nearly 150 years, the Garibaldi biscuit is conventionally consumed with a beverage such as tea, coffee or prosecco, into which it may be dunked in informal social settings."
annassasin
February 21st, 2011 5:53pm Report this commentI disike blair. Were these protests inspired by democracy (of sorts) in Iraq. Cameron is a better statesman the blair, as he can walk & talk without grinning like a dandy. Shame he is cursed by a duff economy, and a duffer population.
TomTom
February 21st, 2011 6:07pm Report this commentI thought Cameron was going to appoint another Khedive ! He should recall Anthony Eden's visit when the Cambridge Arabist spouted verses from The Koran in fluent Arabic.....to no avail !
Cynic
February 21st, 2011 6:10pm Report this commentWhere are Cameron's thousands? Actually when I first read the headline I thought it said "Is David Cameron about to have one of his Garibaldi biscuits?"
Derek Pasquill
February 21st, 2011 6:49pm Report this commentPure comedy gold - just when you thought there weren't enough clowns on the world stage, up pops another contender.
Tarka the Rotter
February 21st, 2011 6:51pm Report this commentat least Garibaldi wore his red shirt openly on the outside...
Frank P
February 21st, 2011 7:10pm Report this commentHe more than likely got Garibaldi mixed up with Gramsci in that glib answer to the Independent; his policies indicate that anyway.
PuppetMaster
February 21st, 2011 7:30pm Report this commentThis is satire isn't it? It's a very odd choice of hero if it's true, most of the young people I know haven't even heard of Churchill, I'd be amazed if they'd heard of Garibaldi.
This must be a Steve Hilton plant, only he is dumb enough to think that this comment would mean anything to anybody. It's a bit like the BS, why didn't they just say we need more voluntary workers? But no, try and think of some 'resonating concept'
Fex Urbis
February 21st, 2011 9:44pm Report this commentWhere's Mr Tony, the tyrant's friend?
2trueblue
February 21st, 2011 10:52pm Report this commentBliar was . ...., and was certainly not a statesman and did little to sell the UK. He was great at making sure family Bliar was ok as were most of Liebores 'top guns'.
Cameron has done more in his time to get the UK back in business than Liebore ever did. He just needs to sort out our situation with theEU, which Liebore failed to honour any of their pledges to us.
Article 38
February 21st, 2011 11:56pm Report this commentCameron's visit to Egypt is one of the most inspirational and courageous actions by a British PM for a very long time.
arnoldo87
February 22nd, 2011 12:04am Report this commentFascinating ,really.
This is a thread about David Cameron, yet you right-wingers can't stop talking about the Master.
He really does get under your skin doesn't he?
Oh, and by the way, a couple of you are still calling Blair a liar. But where are Blair's lies. You all know they exist, the intelligence (from notables such as Liddle, Hislop etc) say they exist. But when you look for them, they just aren't there, are they?
Fergus Pickering
February 22nd, 2011 12:56am Report this commentOf course most people haven't heard of Garibaldi. What's that got to do with it. Most people don't know who the President of the United States is. Most students don't know who won the Battle of Waterloo. You think I exaggerate? Who the hell cares what most people think about this sort of thing. They shouldn't meddle in things they don't understand and, by and large, unless they are said pig-ignorant students, they don't.
Major Plonquer 1
February 22nd, 2011 1:15am Report this commentCan someone please help? I'd like to know what is the Egyptian or Arabic word for 'bandwagon'?
TomTom
February 22nd, 2011 8:48am Report this comment"They shouldn't meddle in things they don't understand"
Mourir pour Danzig ? You are so right Fergus....time to get British soldiers out of Afghanistan. They don't understand the politics or history of that place, send in FCO diplomats to do the fighting instead. How can oiks die for places they don't comprehend ?
David Lindsay
February 22nd, 2011 9:11am Report this commentGood luck to the brave crews of the two Iranian ships that will today sail through the Suez Canal and then parallel with the coast of Israel. That country subjects their country to the world's only stated nuclear threat by a nuclear state against a non-nuclear state. And who gets to use the Suez Canal is Israel's business how, exactly? Is this, as the Iraq War was, a restatement of the claim to all territory between the Nile and the Euphrates?
After all, Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas are both in the ruling coalition, recalling the old joke about why there could not be an alliance between the Herstigte Nasionale Party and the Conservative Party of South Africa: "The HNP wants to drive the Bantu into the sea, but the CP will not allow Bantu on the beaches." Any other state purportedly embodying Western liberal democracy would be made a pariah if it welcomed into government any party remotely resembling either of those. Notably in Austria, that has in fact happened in the fairly recent past.
timinsingapore
February 22nd, 2011 9:44am Report this commentCameron strikes me as rather impressive in the way he handles these things - more impressive than the predictable petty venom of the right-wing and the kneejerk xenophobes. At least he kept his mouth more firmly shut than H Clinton (Mrs) during the phase when the situation was evolving unpredictably. Of course it all could still unravel, but Cameron's not done anything embarrassing yet.
arnoldo87
February 22nd, 2011 10:19am Report this comment@ David Lindsay
"Good luck to the brave crews of the two Iranian ships that will today sail through the Suez Canal and then parallel with the coast of Israel."
Not just "brave".
No doubt "indefatigable" too?
Ben G
February 22nd, 2011 10:32am Report this commentThe Tories' foreign policy is fast becoming a joke.
The party of Castlereagh, Disraeli and Churchill sends a PM to the Middle East flogging weapons.
Tragic.
David Lindsay
February 22nd, 2011 11:26am Report this commentCareful, arnoldo87. He was right about Iraq, and you were wrong.
Fergus Pickering
February 22nd, 2011 12:17pm Report this commentOh Tom Tom you are so predictable. Time to play the squaddie card, eh. I would have thought lefties would be ashamed to do such a thing, given your record of invading everywhere in sight. But of course shame isn't something you do.
Tarka the Rotter
February 22nd, 2011 6:16pm Report this commentwell said, Ben G., well said...
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