BEYOND BRITANNIA

Reshaping UK Foreign Policy

Simon McDonald

£22

3 November 2023

Politics | Diplomacy

Royal Hardback | 280 pages 978-1-913368-90-6

The former head of the Diplomatic Service considers what the future of the UK's foreign policy should look like.

What should the future of British foreign policy look like? For too long successive governments have shied away from acknowledging uncomfortable truths about the decline of Britain’s military capabilities. As we approach the middle years of the twenty-first century a new set of urgent and daunting challenges – including climate change, technological development and the rise of AI, and a growing threat from China – lie ahead, making the need for us to reconcile ourselves with our position in the world more acute.

In this persuasively argued book, Simon McDonald shows how the UK's significant soft-power strengths can be harnessed to expand our international influence. Such a shift will only be possible, he says, if we first acknowledge the challenges of Brexit and the need to reduce our unrealistic hard-power ambitions. Excellence in areas that other countries care about will keep the UK internationally relevant in the second half of the century in a way that nostalgia for a lost pre-eminence will not.

Simon McDonald was the British ambassador to Germany and later permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and head of Diplomatic Service. He is master of Christ’s College, Cambridge.

Simon McDonald

'Leadership displays the virtues you might expect of a top diplomat: it is elegantly written, discreet and observant' —Financial Times

When Abraham Lincoln said, ‘You can be anything you want to be,’ Americans, and eventually everybody everywhere, lifted their sights. Nowadays anybody can aspire to be a leader, and nearly everybody has to lead sometimes.

In Leadership, Simon McDonald assumes that thinking about leadership before you lead helps you to lead better. No matter the circumstances in which we might be called to lead – be it at work, on the sports field, or in the community – the example of top leaders in politics and public service (both their successes and shortcomings) can help you figure out your own approach.

As the head of HM Diplomatic Service, McDonald was responbile for over 14,000 staff in 270 posts worldwide, worked for six foreign secretaries, and saw five prime ministers operate at close quarters. Observing these people undertaking the most important and often the most difficult work in the country, he saw the behaviours that helped them to achieve their objectives, and those which hindered them.

Simon McDonald was the British ambassador to Germany and later permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and head of Diplomatic Service. He is master of Christ’s College, Cambridge.