Brown 'to refocus' UK foreign policy away from Iraq debacle
Iraq-UK, Politics, 1/6/2007

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will seek to refocus Britain's foreign policy away from the debacle in Iraq if, as expected, he succeeds Tony Blair as prime minister later this year.

"Brown will seek to rid the government of the political stain from the war in Iraq by making free education and combating climate change two pillars of Labor's foreign policy," the Guardian newspaper reported Thursday.

The attempted shift comes as the chancellor, who has no foreign affairs experience, penned an article for the daily, calling for the 200th anniversary of the slave trade this year to be used to improve primary schooling in the poorest countries.

"Today education for all makes not just moral and economic sense, but strategic sense too," he said, arguing that failure to fill the void would lead to "fundamentalist indoctrination."

Brown suggested that rich countries needed to do more to ensure free education becomes a 'global reality' for every child within 10 years.

His strategy was said to dilute the damaging influence of the Iraq war, which he supported, by moving other foreign issues up the political agenda.

The 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq that has led to virtual civil war in the country is largely attributed to the declining in popularity of Blair and fears the debacle may cost Labor a fourth successive victory in the next general election.

The Guardian said that there was 'growing concern in Labor's ranks at the political price' paid for Blair's support of US unilateralist foreign policies.

Previous Stories:
  UK Archbishop: Iraq war 'flawed'   (12/30/2006)
  UK not ready to withdraw from Basra until 2008   (12/30/2006)
  Iraq deceit most shameful in British history:Duke of Buccleuch   (12/30/2006)

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