Quote of the day

The Prime Minister (here) on foreign policy:

"[Britain] needs a realism about who we are, what we can achieve and what we need to do. Less grand diplomatic talk, a sort of gritty, commercial, business-like realism to British foreign policy."

Absolutely true. The problem is that the last thing the Foreign Office wants to do is become engaged in gritty, commercial, business-like realism. They believe in grand diplomacy. They didn't join the FCO to dirty their hands with such vulgar matters as trade.