Introduction

There are a number of levers which affect a state's ability to achieve its foreign policy objectives. These include: economic and trade power; defence capability; diplomatic resource and skill; soft power, including cultural clout; and overseas development policy. Any serious foreign policy strategy is informed by an assessment of the state's capacity in these areas and the effective deployment of its comparative strengths. Significantly, each of these tools is reliant, to varying degrees, on a functional system of international law.

While the relative size of its economy and defence capabilities have reduced in the post- Second World War period, the UK has managed to exert an outsized influence through an effective diplomatic service, a seat at key international tables including the United Nations (UN) Security Council, impressive soft power, a commitment to international development and, above all, a significant role in the shaping and reshaping international law.

Indeed, since 1945, the UK has been central to the moulding of institutions, agreements and norms that govern much international activity (often referred to as the ‘rules- based international order’). The UK was present at the establishment of many key intragovernmental bodies, including the UN, International Monetary Fund and International Criminal Court, and at the drafting of treaties that have been essential in regulating state conduct, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1951 Refugee Convention or, in a European context, the European Convention on Human Rights.

The UK has been able to maintain an outsized diplomatic role in large part because of its commitment to the rules- based international order (arguably with a few significant lapses). However, at precisely the moment the UK should, once again, be helping to defend and update this framework – which is central to international peace and security and its own interests – the Conservatives are causing significant damage to the country's international reputation. Repeated threats to break international law over immigration policy and the trading arrangements for Northern Ireland have been noticed by our international partners, and our adversaries.