Britain’s Hardest Choices After Brexit Revolve Around China
A Q&A with leading U.K. foreign policy expert Peter Ricketts on the challenges facing Global Britain.
The art of strategy.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images EuropeIn the devastation of World War II, a handful of British politicians and civil servants proved skilled in a now dying art: grand strategy. They thought deeply about global risks and long-term interests. They collaborated with the U.S. to create postwar institutions for preserving peace, protecting human rights and allowing global trade to flourish.
The U.K. is now at another consequential juncture, where it needs to define what a Global Britain will look like post-Brexit. To understand the current challenge, I turned to Peter Ricketts, who has been at the heart of the country’s foreign policy establishment for four decades, serving as Britain’s permanent representative to NATO and ambassador to France, among other roles.