“A Mixture Of Friendliness And Self-Interest”

Bagehot profiles William Hague, the British foreign secretary:

Britain is no longer a superpower? Get over it, he says—at the age of 51, his is the first generation that cannot remember the empire in its pomp. Britain is not loved by every European nation? Stop worrying about it—though he argues for continued EU membership, hailing the value of the single market and a united European front on trade, diplomatic sanctions and the like.

Britain is a smaller power than before. More interestingly to Mr Hague, it remains a serious power that is good at some hard things. Among other assets, he cites Britain’s armed forces, its counter-terrorism know-how, universities, legal and financial firms, civil service and—in a rebuke to nativists in his own party—its commitment to overseas aid and fighting climate change.