A Conservative Government’s approach to foreign affairs will be based on liberal Conservative principles.
Liberal, because Britain must be open and engaged with the world, supporting human rights and championing the cause of democracy and the rule of law at every opportunity. But Conservative, because our policy must be hard-headed and practical, dealing with the world as it is and not as we wish it were.
We and our allies face our most serious challenges from persistent international terrorism, attempts by Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, and a newly aggressive Russia.
We must recognize that we are much stronger working through NATO, the UN, or the G8 than when acting alone, and that our moral authority is vital to our success.
Britain enjoys a unique position – it is the place where America, Europe and the Commonwealth meet. Our outlook and responsibilities have always been global, and for Britain to play a full role on the international stage we must:
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Restore cabinet government to our foreign policy decision making and establish a national security council
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Properly manage our relations with the United States while extending our alliances and trading relationships elsewhere
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Champion reform of the EU and other multilateral or global institutions while simultaneously upholding our own highest values
Reforming Europe
We believe in an open, flexible Europe in which countries work together to achieve shared goals, not the ever greater centralisation of power in Brussels.
We believe that in democracies nothing lasting can be built without the people’s consent. But people have been denied their say on the renamed EU Constitution.
So if the Lisbon Treaty is not yet in force at the time of the next general election and a Conservative Government is elected we would put the Treaty to a referendum of the British people, recommending a ‘no’ vote. If the British people rejected the Treaty, we would withdraw Britain’s ratification of it.
But if the Treaty is in force we will be in a different situation. In our view, then, political integration would have gone too far and the Treaty would lack democratic legitimacy in this country and we would not let matters rest there.