Chapter 947 Loyalty!

Both men were a complete newcomer to the Foreign Office, a new Foreign Secretary and a new Permanent Undersecretary of the Foreign Office, the tests were the same and needed to be faced by both.

After a short exchange, both men agreed that the Foreign Office, although one of the three major ministries, was an out-and-out department, and that nowadays, whether it was the United States or the Soviet Union, both advocated de-colonization, and that the external situation was still quite grim for colonial powers like the United Kingdom.

“It’s like France now, where protests have been going on for a long time.” Harold Wilson pointed out the difficulties in France now, which was caused by the high investment in the Algerian War, combined with the economic crisis.

“I also agree with the minister.” Alan Wilson said with a turn of phrase, “It seems that this will be the minister’s first difficulty after taking office, I think it is better for the Foreign Office to find out the internal movement of France before making a decision.”

As it was for the Foreign Secretary, how could it not be a test for Alan Wilson? The first step was to get his head around what was now going on in the Foreign Office; having worked from overseas for so long, he would inevitably have to work in a different way on his return to London.

Edward Bridges agrees with this, working in London is very different from working overseas, most noticeable in terms of freedom, and Alan Wilson understands that this is probably what is known as the difference between a capital official and a feudal official.

“It’s important to defend the interests of your own department and at the same time get on good terms with the minister, or if you can’t be friends with the minister like Norman, at least make peace with each other.”

Edward Bridges said with the tone of a man who has been there before, “Generally don’t clash with the minister unless it’s a mistake that leads to serious consequences, but different people have different ways of responding to it, I’ll argue my case, Norman might not make the same choice when faced with the same thing.”

Home is different from overseas, at least for the current Alan Wilson, and he can’t think of replicating in London what he did in Kuala Lumpur, that way, with one word.

“I’ll adjust my mindset.” Alan Wilson replied gratefully, it’s as if the vast majority of people who write for the internet think they have great aunt potential, or at the very least are wistful.

But it doesn’t hold back the ninety percent of writers who can’t earn a penny, there is ultimately a gap between the ideal and the reality.

“You have to think about it, the minister also just took office, the diplomatic work is actually not familiar with, now should be for the minister to develop a set of diplomatic philosophy, this is the right time.” Edward Bridges smiled gently, “Let the minister have the platform that he can play on.”

“Indeed, this is the urgent need of the hour.” Alan Wilson tapped his head, he had been doing administrative work in the colonies, it was time to shift his view and formulate a program that said something, allowing the minister to exert a grand blueprint that did not exist.

At least in name, Britain is still the global empire, foreign policy is to cover the globe, nominally declared three rings of diplomacy, or in fact two wings of the two wings, are not a city or a place to gain or lose.

Diplomacy is certainly too important for the British Empire to be the British Empire. For centuries, Britain has tried to keep a balance of power between the continental European states: whichever side is weak, Britain goes to help it, and whichever side is strong, Britain goes to contain it.

As long as there is such a balance, the continental European countries will automatically keep each other in check, and Britain can rest easy.

But balanced diplomacy is just a guideline, never the essence of the field of diplomacy, Britain does not have the ability to plan for the distant future, in fact, it is the current situation to take one step at a time. Because you can’t plan for the distant future, you can’t find the exact location of the equilibrium point in advance. This point of equilibrium can only be determined according to various current situations and conditions.

If there is one person in the current UK who has this ability, the district is not talented, and is officially the Permanent Undersecretary of the Foreign Office who has just taken office.

“Time for a knighthood.” Seeing her husband return and start to put into the sea of key politics, Pamela Mountbatten put down her son and decided to cast a new line.

The younger son squirmed toward his father on his stomach, awkwardly managing to draw Alan Wilson’s attention to him.

“My son.” Allen Wilson, who picked up his son in his arms, had a kind face and made a face at the little guy.

Hum …… Without any reason to let out a light hum, Pamela Mountbatten with a tasty face, “It is the son who is important, right?”

“This accusation is not justified, you and Pamela are equally important.” Alan Wilson rejected the dirty water thrown his way and defended himself, “I’ve never been big on family, you guys are a presence to me that can’t be measured by anything.”

“That’s all you know how to say!” Pamela Mountbatten gave her husband a blank look, and picked up her son again who stretched out his little hand, “I have been looking for a lot of people in the second week of May, and you must know that a hereditary title is not easy to take down, and I have asked a number of families to help, and yet you don’t seem to be on the ball.”

“My heart is full of gratitude, clearly feel my wife’s hot love for me.” Alan Wilson gambled and swore, two words written on his face, loyalty ……

Immediately afterwards, he threw himself into the formulation of foreign policy, improvisation is the concept of British diplomacy, the most intuitive example is the Peace Conference of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon.

In the later stages of the Napoleonic wars, with France’s defeat in sight, the conflict between Britain’s three great allies, Russia, Prussia and Austria, intensified.

As Russia pursued Napoleon, its power had penetrated deep into the European hinterland and was likely to replace Napoleon as the hegemon of the continent. Prussia, on the other hand, wanted to rely on Russia’s power to expand its own territory and at the same time crush Austria, so the possibility of forming a new alliance between Russia and Prussia after the war was becoming more and more likely. In this case, that British equilibrium had changed.

Therefore, after the defeat of Napoleon, when the European powers held the Vienna Conference to arrange the post-war affairs, British diplomacy underwent a relatively big adjustment. First of all, it was no longer anti-France, but insisted on leniency towards France: France’s status as a continental power must be preserved.

In this way, those allies of Britain who had something to fear in their hearts did not dare to make any immediate move. The enemy did not need to be completely defeated; it was useful to keep it.

In addition, the weakest of Britain’s allies was Austria, and it was also particularly worried about the union of Russia and Prussia, so Britain established a particularly close cooperative relationship with Austria, so that Britain had a helper to fight against Russia and Prussia.

Eventually Britain, through the Peace Conference of Vienna, created an equilibrium that worked in Britain’s favor.

In Alan Wilson’s view, however, improvisation was a thing of the last era, and now diplomacy had to be planned for the long term.

First of all, a foundation must be established that war between the great powers was almost impossible to break out in. Because no country can withstand the consequences of nuclear bombing, Britain also especially can not afford.

Since there will be no outbreak of world war, then the basis of today’s allies and tomorrow’s enemies does not exist, the current situation must be maintained for a long time, then a short period of time can not be considered to improvise, but rather to clarify a diplomatic framework of what Britain needs, and then in the next few decades has been used.

From a macro point of view, learning from history, the nineteenth century diplomacy of the British Empire was essentially centered on ensuring the security of British India, so a perimeter defense system was created.

Now since the Malayan colony has replaced the role of British India, the current can also be utilized on the periphery of the Netherlands, Portugal, then the Asian direction of the strategy, since it is the inheritance of the protection of the security of British India, but only replaced with Malaya.

Harold Wilson also agreed with this, Britain transferred so many industries, and support with the pound area, to start harvesting time, absolutely not allow other countries to separate the Malayan colony from Britain. No matter who was prepared to do it!

“One could even use Malaya as a base for offshore balancing in Asia. In the midst of my time working in Malaya, it made me realize that perhaps the Soviet camp, is not as ironclad as the Americans say, and that it is our side that is correct in judging that China is not in a vassal relationship to the Soviet Union.”

The details are in the one-pound report, which the Foreign Secretary can read slowly for himself.

“The far East, of course, is not urgent for the present.” Alan Wilson’s words turned, “Compared to other directions, Europe is still the top priority, and the current situation in France is quite worrying. We really don’t want, a repeat of 1789, that would have unpredictable effects on the whole of Europe.”

The world economic crisis that began last year has seen industrial production in France fall by five percent. England, on the other hand, continued to increase, while financially, France’s total expenditure last year was fifty-five quadrillion francs, with a deficit of over ten billion francs.

The huge deficit was naturally due to the need to support Algeria’s military expenses for the war, which led to a clash between the left and right in France, with protest marches occurring since March, and, not surprisingly, another change of government in France.

“Are you saying that France might be oriented towards the Soviet Union?” Harold Wilson voiced a question, full of incredulity.

“It’s not as serious as that, it’s just that I have a very mixed feeling about the situation in France right now, and the French folding could help draw attention away from Britain.” Alan Wilson said with mixed feelings, “If the war ended so easily, the pressure would be all on Britain.”

Whether to help the French or not was a dilemma for Allen Wilson, if France was taken care of, Britain couldn’t hold out.

“My dear, the French Communist Party is supposed to be very complicated, is there anyone you know.” After returning home, Allen Wilson asked Pamela Mountbatten, it was his wife’s contacts that were more practical at the critical moment.

“You’re going to join the Communist Party?” Pamela Mountbatten gave a look that doubted her husband’s reliability.

“How can that be, I’m one of us.” Alan Wilson nearly exploded in the face of such skepticism.