Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will advocate putting British interests first and be “realistic” about some international partnerships as she delivers a speech on foreign policy today.
Badenoch will advocate a “need to disengage” from international bodies if they are “taken over by activists or by autocratic regimes like China or Russia”.
In her address at the Policy Exchange think-tank on Tuesday morning, she will say: “We’ve let ourselves be fooled into believing that international law alone can keep the peace.
“But when faced with a regime with no respect for the law, we need to be realistic. We can no longer simply put our trust in international partnerships or supranational institutions as ends in themselves.
“International law should not become a tool for NGOs and other critics to seek to advance an activist political agenda through international bodies and our domestic courts.
“And if international bodies are taken over by activists, or by autocratic regimes like China or Russia, we must use our influence to stop them. And if that fails, we will need to disengage.”
Earlier this month Badenoch urged Sir Keir Starmer to “put our national interests before the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights]” during Prime Minister’s Questions over the Government’s decision to allow a Palestinian family to settle in the UK.
She has also previously hinted that she could advocate for pulling the UK out of the ECHR.
In her speech the Tory leader will also say it is “not a selfish objective” to want to “strengthen our country and to look after ourselves”, and will warn that there will be “painful decisions on government spending” when it comes to funding defence.
Badenoch will say that “our foreign policy should seek to support our national interest” and “sovereignty must be at the core of our foreign policy”.
“A nation state’s primary purpose is to defend its borders, its values and its people,” she is expected to say.
“That is not a selfish objective, it is realism – because you cannot help others if you cannot help yourself. Strengthening Britain must be the principal objective at the heart of everything we do.”
Labour accused her of being “part of a Conservative government which hollowed out our Armed Forces, made us more reliant on Putin for our energy needs and diminished Britain’s standing on the world stage”.
Her speech comes days before the Prime Minister heads to Washington, where he is expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine with Donald Trump while also hoping to contain a growing transatlantic rift.
The schism between Washington and Europe deepened on Monday, when the US voted against a UN resolution, drafted by Kyiv and its European allies including the UK, which condemned Moscow’s aggression.
Starmer is expected to discuss his calls for a US “backstop” to a peace agreement in Ukraine, as well as defence spending.
The Prime Minister is also under pressure to use the trip to confirm a timeline to raise UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
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