Global Britain: is there substance behind the slogan?
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Having left the EU, the UK is now re-branding itself as "Global Britain", but what does that actually mean? A key plank of the new foreign policy is a pivot to the "Indo-Pacific". How is this seen in India? And how should Britain deal with China, described as a "challenge" in the government's recently published Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy? And where does all this leave relations with the EU and US? Should "Global Britain" try to reassert itself as a major power on the international stage, or would the UK's interests be better served by acting as a broker between larger, or like-minded, countries instead, to help bring about beneficial agreements? And what effect could the reduction in the overseas development aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of Gross National Income have on Britain's "soft power" abroad, with the deep real-terms cuts to humanitarian and other programmes that this will mean for countries such as Yemen or Malawi?
Presenter: Chris Morris Producer: Arlene Gregorius Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:41.0 | Hi, thanks for listening to this episode of Analysis, the program that looks at the |
| 0:45.0 | ideas shaping public policy in Britain and around the world. I'm Chris Morris. |
| 0:49.6 | Today, in the aftermath of Brexit, you probably heard the slogan global Britain rather a lot so what might it mean in practice |
| 1:00.2 | It's a windy spring day on the banks of the Thames and this really is one of the most impressive sites in London, |
| 1:06.0 | the classical columns of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. |
| 1:11.0 | In February last year, the Prime Minister came here just three days |
| 1:15.2 | after fulfilling his promise to take Britain out of the European Union. |
| 1:19.6 | Speaking in the magnificent painted hall surrounded by idealized images of a glorious history. |
| 1:26.1 | This was Boris Johnson, the global buccaneer. |
| 1:30.3 | And above around us you can see the anchors cables rudders sails oars ensigns powder barrels |
| 1:37.9 | sextants the compasses the grappling irons he talked of the newly forged United Kingdom in the early 18th century |
| 1:46.4 | on the slipway about to embark on its new global journey. And today if we get it right, if we have the courage to follow the instincts and the instructions of the |
| 1:59.4 | British people, this can be another such moment on the launching pad. |
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