Britain's two-faced foreign policy

Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, is also scathing. “In any sane world, we wouldn’t be simultaneously threatening a no-deal Brexit while at the same time asking for a European Maritime Force to protect commercial ships in the Gulf.”

But as Mr Bond says: “If this new maritime alliance gets under way in the Gulf after we have left the EU, we will be treated by the EU as a third country. Far from being involved in operational planning, we will, at best, get an invitation late in the day to provide a ship, but with no vote in shaping the mission.”