Is David Cameron about to have one of his Garibaldi moments?

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.