Sky Views: Hunt was invisible at a gathering of allies in the US. Why the no-show?

Sky Views: Hunt was invisible at a gathering of allies in the US. Why the no-show?

Deborah Haynes, foreign affairs editor

Britain after Brexit can become an "invisible chain" that links the world's democracies, our foreign secretary says.

But Jeremy Hunt was simply invisible at a gathering of allies in Washington this week on the 70th anniversary of the foundation of NATO - one of the UK's most important international alliances.

Why the no-show?

Because of "parliamentary business", the foreign office said - diplomatic speak for the Brexit deadlock, knife-edge parliamentary votes and cabinet meetings that are getting in the way of what would normally be regarded as really important government business.


Why does this matter?

The past week was meant to be Britain's first full week outside the European Union - the embodiment of "global Britain", as the government mantra goes.

Image: Britain had no ministerial representation at NATO's 70th birthday

The meeting of foreign ministers from the 29 NATO member states in the US capital would have been a perfect setting for Mr Hunt to start building his invisible chain and driving home the message that Britain may have left the EU but it is still a vital European power.

Instead he was himself bound by an invisible cord to Westminster, while "global Britain" was left with no ministerial representation at the alliance's 70th birthday celebrations.

This is by no means a reflection of any loss of importance placed by the UK in NATO. Britain is one of the alliance's strongest supporters, regarding it as the cornerstone of British and European defence.

It is instead an example of how the protracted Brexit crisis is impacting on the UK's ability to do anything else, particularly on the foreign policy front. A chunk of Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff is engaged in a range of Brexit-related preparations and contingency planning in case of a no-deal, instead of their normal diplomatic day jobs.

The protracted Brexit crisis is impacting on the UK's ability to do anything else, particularly on the foreign policy front.

Mr Hunt's voice in support of the transatlantic security bond would have been an important addition to the discussions in Washington last Wednesday and Thursday, especially given the frosty attitude of Donald Trump to most things NATO.

The US president, who called the alliance "obsolete" before he took office, has made no secret of his contempt for other member states, such as Germany, that fail to meet the minimum NATO requirement to spend at least 2% of national income on defence.

He believes European allies unfairly benefit from the security blanket provided by the much larger US defence budget and wants them to invest more in their own armed forces - something that is happening but slowly.

In line with President Trump's less than enthusiastic approach to NATO, the marking of the alliance's 70th anniversary by his administration was more low key than when it turned 60 during the presidency of Barack Obama or its 50th birthday under Bill Clinton.

On both those occasions, the heads of state and government of all member states came to the US for a summit.

This time it was foreign ministers, rather than their respective bosses, who convened in Washington 70 years after the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April, 1949.

While the Brexit impasse at home scuppered the foreign secretary's US travel plans, Britain will get another chance to weave its invisible chain around allies.

A summit of NATO prime ministers and presidents will still take place this anniversary year - in December - but this time the venue will be the UK not the US, a mark of the Britain's status as a global power, provided the country is not still consumed by Brexit.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Adam Boulton - Our political system can handle Brexit and we have not gone mad