Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, headed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The Prime Minister and numerous other agencies play a role in setting policy, and many institutions and businesses have a voice and a role.
The United Kingdom was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries, most notably during the so-called "Pax Britannica"a period of totally unrivaled supremacy and unprecedented international peace during the mid-to-late 1800s. The country continued to be widely considered a superpower until the Suez crisis of 1956, and this embarrassing incident coupled with the loss of the empire left the UK's dominant role in global affairs to be gradually diminished. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom remains a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a founding member of the G7, G8, G20, NATO, OECD, WTO, Council of Europe, OSCE, and the Commonwealth of Nations, the latter being a legacy of the British Empire. The UK had been a member state of the European Union since 1973. However, due to the outcome of a 2016 membership referendum, proceedings to withdraw from the EU began in 2017 and concluded when the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020. Since the vote, policymakers have begun pursuing new trade agreements with other global partners.
History
British foreign relations were largely carried over from the Kingdom of England's place in the world. British foreign policy initially focused on achieving a balance of power within Europe, with no one country achieving dominance over the affairs of the continent. This was a major reason behind the British wars against Napoleon, the involvement in the First and Second World Wars.The chief enemy of the British, from the Hundred Years' War until the defeat of Napoleon was France, a much larger country with a more powerful army. The British were generally successful in their many wars. The notable exception was the American War of Independence, when Britain, without any major allies, was defeated by the colonials who had the support of France, the Netherlands and Spain. A favoured diplomatic strategy was subsidising the armies of continental allies, such as Prussia, thereby turning London's enormous financial power to military advantage. Britain relied heavily on its Royal Navy for security, seeking to keep it the most powerful fleet afloat with a full complement of bases across the globe. British dominance of the seas was vital to the formation of the British Empire, which was achieved through the maintenance of a Navy larger than the next two largest Navies combined for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, prior to the entry of the United States into the Second World War.
1814–1914
First World War
1920s
Britain was a "troubled giant" that was less of a dominant diplomatic force in the 1920s than before. It often had to give way to the United States, which frequently exercised its financial superiority. The main themes of British foreign policy include a role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where Lloyd George worked hard to moderate French demands for revenge. He was partly successful, but Britain soon had to moderate French policy toward Germany, as in the Locarno Treaties. Britain was an active member of the new League of Nations, but its list of major achievements was slight.Disarmament was high on the agenda, and Britain played a major role following the United States in the Washington Naval Conference of 1921 in working toward naval disarmament of the major powers. By 1933 disarmament had collapsed and the issue became rearming for a war against Germany.
Britain was much less successful in negotiating with United States regarding the large loans. Britain was obliged to repay. Britain supported the American solution through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, whereby Germany paid its reparations using money borrowed from New York banks. The Great Depression starting in 1929 put enormous pressure on the British economy. Britain move toward imperial preference, which meant low tariffs among the Commonwealth of Nations, and higher barriers toward trade with outside countries. The flow of money from New York dried up, and the system of reparations and payment of debt died in 1931.
In domestic British politics, the emerging Labour Party had a distinctive and suspicious foreign policy based on pacifism. Its leaders believed that peace was impossible because of capitalism, secret diplomacy, and the trade in armaments. That is it stressed material factors that ignored the psychological memories of the Great War, and the highly emotional tensions regarding nationalism and the boundaries of the countries. Nevertheless, party leader Ramsay MacDonald spent much of his attention on European policies.
1930s
Vivid memories of the horrors and deaths of the World War inclined many Britons—and their leaders in all parties—to pacifism in the interwar era. This led directly to the appeasement of dictators in order to avoid their threats of war.The challenge came from dictators, first Benito Mussolini of Italy, then Adolf Hitler of a much more powerful Nazi Germany. The League of Nations proved disappointing to its supporters; it was unable to resolve any of the threats posed by the dictators. British policy was to "appease" them in the hopes they would be satiated. By 1938 it was clear that war was looming, and that Germany had the world's most powerful military. The final act of appeasement came when Britain and France sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Hitler's demands at the Munich Agreement of 1938. Instead of satiation Hitler menaced Poland, and at last Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dropped appeasement and stood firm in promising to defend Poland. Hitler however cut a deal with Joseph Stalin to divide Eastern Europe; when Germany did invade Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war; the British Commonwealth followed London's lead.
Second World War
Since 1945
Economically in dire straits in 1945, Britain systematically reduced its overseas commitments. It pursued an alternate role as an active participant in the Cold War against communism, especially as a founding member of NATO.The British had built up a very large worldwide Empire, which peaked in size in 1922, after more than half a century of unchallenged global supremacy. The cumulative costs of fighting two world wars, however, placed a heavy burden upon the home economy, and after 1945 the British Empire rapidly began to disintegrate, with all the major colonies gaining independence. By the mid-to-late 1950s, the UK's status as a superpower was gone in the face of the United States and the Soviet Union. Most former colonies joined the "Commonwealth of Nations", an organisation of fully independent nations now with equal status to the UK. However it attempted no major collective policies. The last major colony, Hong Kong, was handed over to China in 1997. Fourteen British Overseas Territories maintain a constitutional link to the UK, but are not part of the country per se.
Britain slashed its involvements in the Middle East after the humiliating Suez Crisis of 1956. However Britain did forge close military ties with the United States, France, and Germany, through the NATO military alliance. After years of debate, Britain joined the Common Market in 1973; which is now the European Union. However it did not merge financially, and kept the pound separate from the Euro, which partly isolated it from the EU financial crisis of 2011. As of 23 June 2016, the UK has voted to leave the EU.
The UK is currently establishing air and naval facilities in the Persian Gulf, located in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered.
21st century
Foreign policy initiatives of UK governments since the 1990s have included military intervention in conflicts and for peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance programmes and increased aid spending, support for establishment of the International Criminal Court, debt relief for developing countries, prioritisation of initiatives to address climate change, and promotion of free trade. The British approach has been described as "spread the right norms and sustain NATO".Lunn et al. argue:
In 2013, the government of David Cameron described its approach to foreign policy by saying:
The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 highlighted a range of foreign policy initiatives of the UK government. Edward Longinotti notes how current British defence policy is grappling with how to accommodate two major commitments, to Europe and to an ‘east of Suez’ global military strategy, within a modest defence budget that can only fund one. He points out that Britain's December 2014 agreement to open a permanent naval base in Bahrain underlines its gradual re-commitment east of Suez.
At the end of January 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union.
Major international disputes since 1945
- 1946–1949 – involved in Greek Civil War
- 1945–1948 – administration of the Mandate for Palestine, ending with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. British forces often faced conflict with Arab nationalists and Jewish Zionist militia, including those who in 1946 blew up the King David Hotel, which was British administrative and military HQ, killing 91 people.
- 1947–1991 – Cold War with Soviet Union
- 1948–1949 – Berlin Blockade – dispute with USSR over access to West Berlin and general Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe
- 1948–1960 – Malayan Emergency – armed conflict against the politically isolated Communist forces of the Malayan National Liberation Army
- 1950–1953 – Korean War – war with North Korea
- 1951–1954 – Abadan Crisis – dispute with Iran over expropriated oil assets
- 1956–1957 – Suez Crisis – armed conflict with Egypt over its seizure of the Suez Canal Zone, and dispute with most of international community
- 1958 – First Cod War – fishing dispute with Iceland
- 1962–1966 – Konfrontasi – war with Indonesia
- 1972–1973 – Second Cod War – fishing dispute with Iceland
- 1975–1976 – Third Cod War – fishing dispute with Iceland
- 1982 – Falklands War – war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands and other British South Atlantic territory.
- 1983 – Condemnation of the United States over its invasion of Grenada.
- 1984 – dispute with Libya after a policewoman is shot dead in London by a gunman from within the Libyan embassy and considerable Libyan support for the IRA in Northern Ireland.
- 1988 – further dispute with Libya over the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie
- 1991 – Gulf War with Iraq
- 1995 – under UN mandate, military involvement in Yugoslavia
- 1997 – Hong Kong handover to Chinese rule. Britain secures guarantees for a "special status" that would continue capitalism and protect existing British property.
- 1999 – involvement in NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia over Kosovo
- 2000 – British action in saving the UN peacekeeping force from collapse and defeating the anti-government rebellion during the Sierra Leone Civil War
- 2001 – UN-sponsored war against, and subsequent occupation of, Afghanistan, November 2003
- 2003 – Collaborate with US and others in war and occupation of, Iraq Over 46,000 British troops subsequently occupy Basra and Southern Iraq
- 2007 – diplomatic dispute with Russia over the death of Alexander Litvinenko Additional matters have strained British-Russian relations; continued espionage, Russian human rights violations and support of regimes hostile to the west
- 2009 – Dispute with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme, including sanctions and Iranian condemnation of the British government culminating in a 2011 attack on the British Embassy in Iran.
- 2011 – under UN mandate, UK Armed Forces participated in enforcing the Libyan No-Fly Zone as part of Operation Ellamy
- 2013 – support to French forces in the Malian civil war, including training and equipment to African peacekeeping and Malian government forces.
- 2015 – support to US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
- 2016 – P5+1 and EU implement a deal with Iran intended to prevent the country gaining access to nuclear weapons.
- 2018 – Sanctions on Russia following the poisoning of Sergei Skripal using a nerve agent in Salisbury, England included the expulsions of 23 diplomats, the largest ever since the Cold War, an act that was retaliated by Russia. A further war of words entailed and relations are deteriorating.
Sovereignty disputes
- Spain claims the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.
- Mauritius and the Maldives claims the entire Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory, including the island of Diego Garcia used as a joint UK/US military base since the 1970s when the inhabitants were forcibly removed, Blenheim Reef, Speakers Bank and all the other features.
- Conflicting claims over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, controlled by the United Kingdom but claimed by Argentina. The dispute escalated into the Falklands War in 1982 over the islands' sovereignty, in which Argentina was defeated.
- There is a territorial claim in Antarctica, the British Antarctic Territory, which overlaps with areas claimed by Chile and Argentina.
- Dispute over territorial waters and continental shelf rights around Rockall.
Commonwealth of Nations
The UK was once a dominant colonial power in many countries on the continent of Africa and its multinationals remain large investors in sub-Saharan Africa. Nowadays the UK, as a leading member of the Commonwealth of Nations, seeks to influence Africa through its foreign policies. Current UK disputes are with Zimbabwe over human rights violations. Tony Blair set up the Africa Commission and urged rich countries to cease demanding developing countries repay their large debts. Relationships with developed nations are strong with numerous cultural, social and political links, mass inter-migration trade links as well as calls for Commonwealth free trade.
From 2016–2018, the Windrush scandal occurred, where the UK deported a number British Citizens with Commonwealth heritage back to their Commonwealth country on claims they were "illegal immigrants".
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
The UK maintained good relations with Western Europe since 1945, and Eastern Europe since end of the Cold War in 1989. After years of dispute with France it joined the European Economic Community in 1973, which eventually evolved into the European Union through the Maastricht Treaty twenty years later. Unlike the majority of European countries, the UK does not use the Euro as its currency and is not a member of the Eurozone. During the years of its membership of the European Union, the United Kingdom had often been referred to as a "peculiar" member, due to its occasional dispute in policies with the organisation. The United Kingdom regularly opted out of EU legislation and policies. Through differences in geography, culture and history, national opinion polls have found that of the 28 nationalities in the European Union, British people have historically felt the least European. On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and formally left on 31 January 2020.European Union
| Country | Formal Relations Began | Notes |
| 1799 | See Austria-United Kingdom relations
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| 1830 | See Belgium–United Kingdom relations
Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1879-07 | See Bulgaria–United Kingdom relations
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| 1992 | See Croatia-United Kingdom relations
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| 1960 | See Cyprus–United Kingdom relations The UK maintains two sovereign area military bases on the island of Cyprus. The UK is also a signatory to a treaty with Greece and Turkey concerning the independence of Cyprus, the Treaty of Guarantee, which maintains that Britain is a "guarantor power" of the island's independence. | |
| 1993 | See Czech Republic–United Kingdom relations Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1654-10-01 | See Denmark–United Kingdom relations
Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1991 | See Foreign relations of Estonia Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1919-05-06 | See Foreign relations of Finland
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| 1505 | See France–United Kingdom relations | |
| 1680 | See Germany–United Kingdom relations
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| 1832 | See Greece–United Kingdom relations
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| 1920 |
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| 1921 | See Ireland–United Kingdom relations Despite a long history of conflict from English Tudor plantation in Ireland to the Irish War of independence, the UK presently works closely with the government of the Republic of Ireland in areas concerning the peace process in Northern Ireland as well as on many security issues. In 1949 the Irish Houses of Parliament passed the Republic of Ireland Act, making the Republic of Ireland officially fully independent; the country withdrew from the Commonwealth. Under the Ireland Act 1949 Irish citizens are treated as though they are Commonwealth citizens and not aliens for the purposes of law. Until 1998, the Republic of Ireland claimed Northern Ireland, but this was rescinded under the Belfast Agreement through an amendment of the Irish Constitution, which now states an aspiration to peaceful unity. There is an ongoing dispute that also involves Denmark and Iceland, over the status of the ocean floor surrounding Rockall. However, this is for the most part a trivial issue that rarely makes it onto British-Irish meeting agendas. Ireland has confidential agreements with both the United Kingdom and NATO to defend sovereign Irish airspace from intrusions or attacks.
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| 1861 | See Italy–United Kingdom relations
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| 1991 | See Foreign relations of Latvia
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| 1991-09-04 | See Lithuania–United Kingdom relations
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See Foreign relations of Luxembourg
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| 1964 | See Malta–United Kingdom relations In the 1950s and 1960s, serious consideration was given in both countries to the idea of a political union between the United Kingdom and Malta. However, this plan for "Integration with Britain" foundered, and Malta gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1964. British Monarch Queen Elizabeth II remained Queen of Malta until the country became a Republic in 1974. There is a small Maltese community in the United Kingdom. In addition, the British overseas territory of Gibraltar has been influenced by significant 18th and 19th Century immigration from Malta.
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| 1603 | See Netherlands–United Kingdom relations
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| 1919 | See Poland–United Kingdom relations
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| 1373 | See Portugal–United Kingdom relations
Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1880-02-20 | See Romania–United Kingdom relations
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| 1993 | See Slovakia–United Kingdom relations
Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1992 | See Foreign relations of Slovenia
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| 1509 | See Spain–United Kingdom relations
Both countries are members of NATO. | |
| 1653 | See Sweden-United Kingdom relations
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Oceania
Overseas Territories
International Organizations
The United Kingdom is a member of the following international organisations:ADB, AfDB, Arctic Council, Australia Group, BIS, Commonwealth of Nations, CBSS, CDB, Council of Europe, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA, FAO, FATF, G-20, G-5, G7, G8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUSCO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS, OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PIF, SECI, UN, United Nations Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNRWA, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, Zangger Committee