In These New Times

Clegg offers change, but change a la Obama.(Plus ca change…..) He represents an update of atlanticist thinking which has fallen behind on this  side of the Atlantic since the election in the US of the greener, hipper, pseudo-charismatic conman, Barak Obama of Goldman

.What does Nick Clegg stand for?

Laura Rozen

Politico

12th May, 2010

After naming William Hague as the UK’s new foreign secretary, Britain’s new prime minister David Cameron set up the UK’s first American-style National Security  Council, whose first priority would be coordinating UK policy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The new NSC was to hold its first meeting Wednesday, including Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Hague, and other ministers.

“The council will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and review the terrorist threat to the UK,” the prime minister’s office said, according to the AFP.

“It is our most urgent priority here in my work to make sure we have a grip on what is going on in Afghanistan,” Hague told Sky News.

“And I know that will consume a lot of our time and energy and effort,” he continued. “We have been fighting some political battles here but they are in a real battle out there.”

Hague served as Tory leader from 1997 to 2001, and as Secretary of State for Wales in the UK’s last conservative government of John Major.

“The advent of the kind of international co-operation at least discussed at recent summits of the G20, and of a new United States administration with a multilateral approach to foreign policy that provides other nations with a fresh opportunity to respond positively, both give some cause for optimism in international relations,” Hague said in a speech last year to the International Institute for Strategic Studies about what a Conservative UK foreign policy would look like.

“It is not unreasonable at least to hope for advances in the Middle East Peace Process, for success in a new approach in Afghanistan, for a better era in U.S.-Russia relations and for a more constructive response to the international community from the leadership of Iran, or a more determined effort by the international community to overcome Iranian intransigence,” he continued. “While the prospect of any of these hopes coming to fruition survives it is vital for America’s allies to work hard to bring that about for the good of all.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Hague last October when he visited Washington in his capacity as the Shadow Foreign Secretary, the State Department said Wednesday.

“The @Foreign Office have uploaded a selection of photos from my first day in the office,” hetweeted today