William Hague today promised an “agile and energetic” new foreign policy to extend Britain’s reach and influence around the world.
In his first major speech as Foreign Secretary, Mr Hague also promised to ensure that the UK pulls its weight in the European Union by boosting the number of UK nationals in the corridors of power in Brussels.
Mr Hague accused the previous Labour government of allowing a “generation gap” to develop over its 13 years in power, by neglecting to ensure enough British officials won key posts in EU institutions.
Numbers of British officials at director level in the European Commission fell by one-third since 2007, and numbers of UK posts by 205 overall, he pointed out. Although it represents 12 per cent of