Introduction:
On September 6, 2022, British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal and Development Elizabeth Trass was officially appointed as British Prime Minister , replacing Conservative leader Boris Johnson , who resigned two months ago. Tras is the third female prime minister in the UK. Because she had deliberately created a character similar to " Iron Lady " Mrs. Thatcher , the outside world often compared her to Mrs. Thatcher. More importantly, the UK is currently in a bad situation of inflation, high energy prices, and tight public expenditure funds, which is very similar to the situation faced by Mrs. Thatcher on the eve of the reform in the last century. Public opinion generally points out that Tras' frequent changes in political positions have damaged the credibility of her praise for Thatcher's conservative character.
This article reviews Trass' political career and the comments about her by those around Trass.
Tras was born into a left-wing family. After graduating from Oxford University , he briefly joined the third party in the UK Liberal Democratic Party . The Liberal Democratic Party is between Labour Party and Conservative Party on ideological . After graduation, Tras turned to the Conservative Party and held important positions in the cabinets of Cameron , Theresa May and Johnson . In the critical journey of Britain towards Brexit, she has transformed from a European-remaining party to an European-sceptic party. Tras herself describes her own political ideology core pillar is her belief in the free market economy, and those who know Tras describe her as a firm free marketist and ruthless optimist, believing that the outside world often underestimates her abilities. Tras's flexibility in changing party and policy positions undoubtedly reflects her attitude towards seeing politics as "philosophy in action".
When Tras was Foreign Minister, she took a hawkish stance on issues such as the Ukrainian War and relations with China. Now that the domestic problems in the UK are becoming increasingly serious, how will the UK's domestic and foreign policy be adjusted in the future, and whether China-UK relations can operate on the right track during the turbulent period are worth further attention. The article was compiled by "The World of Law and Idea", and was specially forwarded by the Eurasian Systems Science Research Association for readers to think about. The article only represents the author's own views.
Contemporary Thatcher? Elizabeth Trass's new diplomatic strategy
text | Amy Mackinnon
translation | Xu Shunping
source | Foreign Policy
The new British Prime Minister Elizabeth Trass delivered a speech as prime minister for the first time after meeting with the Queen. Source: Reuters.
As a minister of environment, food and rural affairs, it is difficult to cause a sensation. But in his speech at the 2014 Conservative Party Congress, Leeds Trass did his best. Tlas was clumsy and enthusiastic, and she first gushed out some of the highlights from her agricultural briefs and then started introducing British produce, which made her notorious on the internet. “Two-thirds of our cheese is imported,” Tras said, and she paused for a long time to achieve a dramatic effect. "This is, a shame," she said, with a genuine disgust on her face. This sentence immediately became an emoticon package after being quoted by the BBC satirical intelligence competition program "I Have Message for You". During the 2007 period, Tras held many positions in the cabinet and is now the darling of the conservative grassroots movement and is considered a candidate for the party's future leader. Earlier this month, at a Labor meeting, she walked up to the podium and delivered her first speech as the new British Foreign Secretary in front of a room with a blue neck strap.
Tras is still not a great orator, but her speech is more restrained and concise. Without dramatic pauses, her passion for Brand Britain is obvious, outlining her hope that the country is “more competitive, bolder, and more forward-looking than any other country on the planet.” After leaving
, the UK is redefining its role on the world stage.Tras is also responsible for conveying overseas information about British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Boris Johnson) "Global Britain" that the country finds itself in conflict with its neighbors and has a lot of domestic crises. Labor shortage, supermarket shelves are empty, and energy costs are rising, which are already reminiscent of the turmoil of the late 1970s.
Those who know about Tras describe her as a firm liberalist and ruthless optimist. She once said that the UK is a country that "living with Airbnb, eating with Deliveroo, taking taxi with Uber, and being full of freedom fighters." Leading the Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal and Development Affairs through rough waters will require every bit of her well-known vitality. But can Tras keep this vibrant in another "winter of discontent"?
In July 2014, Leeds Trass was with students from a London school. As Secretary of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, she launched a plan to get more locally sourced and grown food into schools and hospitals.
Tras joined the Conservative Party after graduating from Merton College, Oxford in 1996, which was a very out of place at the time. Another major political party in the UK, the Labor Party, gradually moved closer to the middle under the leadership of the then party leader Tony Blair (Tony Blair). The following year, Labor defeated the Conservatives in the general election, ending the party's 18-year winning streak. "This is basically the lowest point for the Conservative Party," said Markleit Wood, director of the Institute for Economic Affairs, a liberal think tank.
Tras decided to join the Conservative Party in her early 20s, which was even more unusual for her parents. Trass calls her parents a Labor left.
In the UK, class differences remain serious, and Trass' personal experience transcends two traditions within the Conservative Party. She attended Oxford University, but her education in public schools and her descent from the north also satisfy the Conservative Party's romanticization of self-reliance. Until the 2017 election, most Conservative members of the Parliament did not have independent schools (Translator's note: In the UK, an independent school is a private resource-funded school with the main form of resources, which is tuition, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and is not regulated by the national fiscal regulations. There are about 2,500 independent schools in the UK, which educates about 615,000 school children. About 10% of independent schools in the UK are public schools, generally with a long history and tradition, and as a member of the principal's meeting.) "She can play a role in the Conservative tradition and bring something new," said Bronwin Maddox, director of the Government Institute. To some extent, the Conservatives have a successful formula that may be very close.
Tras was born in Oxford in 1975. When she was 4 years old, her family moved to the suburbs of Glasgow, Scotland. The town of Paisley has staggered by the collapse of manufacturing, which is the economic cornerstone of the region. Trass's father, John, was a mathematics professor and taught at Paisley Polytechnic. Her mother Priscilla is a nurse, teacher and nuclear disarmament movement (Nuclear Disarmament movement, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, abbreviated as CND, is a member of the British anti-nuclear movement organization that advocates unilaterally for nuclear disarmament, which advocates against nuclear weapons. In an interview with BBC reporter Nick Robinson in 2018, Tras recalled that she made a fake bomb with an old carpet and took it to Paisley march, when the crowd chanted that then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned, "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Go away!"
"For me, there is no ballet or "My Little Pony" to save the planet and nuclear disarmament movement," she recalled her childhood in her infamous so-called cheese speech in 2014.
Tras was selected to play Mrs. Thatcher in a mock election at Paisley West Elementary School during the 1983 election. She didn't get a vote, she didn't even vote for herself.“Even at that age, we know that being a Conservative party in the Scotland west is unpopular,” she told Scotland in 2018.
Later, the family moved to Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, where Tras attended a public high school.
This experience laid the foundation for Trass to reject her later called "the soft paranoia of low expectations" and her dislike for identity politics. This was highlighted when she was appointed Minister of Women and Equality in 2019, where she continued to serve as Foreign Minister. "In my comprehensive school, we took courses on racism and sexism, but hardly tried to make sure everyone mastered mathematics and English," wrote in a 2020 column for the Daily Mail . "
Although she did not inherit her parents' liberal politics—her father reportedly refused to canvass for her first campaign—Tras's father's career in mathematics seemed to have left a lasting mark. In 2014, when Tras was the second-ranking official of the Ministry of Education, he led a survey team to Shanghai to learn about how Chinese students have repeatedly ranked among the top international math rankings. While interviewing members for her political team, Trast specifically asked if they had taken the A-level math exam, a type of senior high school in the UK. A source close to the Foreign Secretary said: "She has a very strong mathematical and economist temperament."
Tras had a brief flirting with the Liberal Democrats, the third party in the UK, during her political journey from the left to the 2.0 version of Margaret Thatcher described by some – a "young mistake" as she described. The Liberal Democrats are ideologically between the Labor and the Conservatives. While in Oxford, Tras served as chairman of the Liberal Democratic Club. "We all make mistakes in our teenage years. Some people take drugs. Others join the Liberal Democratic Party," she said in a 2019 interview with the Bystander podcast. At that time, her political ambitions were already obvious. Littlewood knew her in Oxford and she said she was obviously a "hacker"—"It was almost a symbol of political ambition."
Tras said that her belief in a free market economy comes from her research on economics, which has become the core pillar of her political ideology. "I realized then that to take control of your life, you need to take control of your money, and the economy is actually very important." When Trass worked in Congress in his early years, Ryan Bourne worked with her several projects, and Ryan now works at the Cato Institute, a think tank in Washington, . He said that the key to understanding the evolution of Trass' politics is not to think through the prism of party politics . Instead, Byrne said it would be better to view her ideology as evolved from classical liberalism, "freedom is the key to political motivational value."
After graduating from Oxford in 1996, Trass found a job at energy giant Royal Dutch Shell before joining Dadong Communications. In 2001, at the age of 25, she ran for the first time for Congress. After another failed attempt in 2005, Tras joined the A-list of candidates for then-British Prime Minister David Cameron, which was designed to diversify the party's team. Tras was elected a safe seat in Norfolk, England (Translator's note: A party with a certain constituency has a greater advantage, usually referring to the party's support leading opponents by 15-20%.
Tras faces the final challenge from within the Conservative Party. Local party activists are called "turnip taliban" by the tabloids (translator's note: This term is used to describe Conservative radicals living in the southwest of Norfolk .In this context, turnip refers to a person with a radish-like head, that is, a person with a soft mind or an underdeveloped spirit. The Taliban is a cruel extreme reactionary. Therefore, the word “carrot Taliban” captures a good combination of stupidity and narrow traditionalism. ), tried to stop her nomination after learning that she had an extramarital affair with her mentor, Conservative politician Mark Field. Four years ago, both got married. Trace's marriage was maintained after the extramarital affair was revealed, and she and her accountant husband Hugh O’leary had two daughters, Frances and Liberty. In 2010, Tras defeated her grassroots challenger and was elected to Congress.
On March 31, Leeds Tras presided over the G7 meeting held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in London. Image source: Photography ROTA/Media REDUX
Those who know her describe her as a convictional politician. What they mean is that her worldview shapes her policy thinking. Borne said: "I think she does see politics as a philosophy of action, a conflict of values."
She quickly made her ideological position in parliament and established Free Enterprise Group in parliament in 2011. Tras and more than 30 other members hope to inspire enthusiasm for a free market economy.
In 2014, at the age of 38, she was appointed Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, becoming the youngest woman in the cabinet. As a Foreign Minister, Tras broke another glass ceiling, becoming the second female foreign minister in British history and the first Conservative Foreign Minister. Not that Tras will definitely see these terms. As Minister of Women and Equality, she has always emphasized equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcomes. She also refuted policies that focus specifically on race, sex and gender, calling it "follow the trend."
In previous cabinet positions, Tras has enjoyed a reputation for his dedicated work. “I think people have been underestimating her all the time,” said Gavin Walsh, a former national and international security policy adviser for the Conservative Party. "People tease her voice and make fun of her enthusiasm, but they don't realize that she is a very smart politician who has been in the party for the past 15 or 20 years.
Tras switched from a Brexit skeptic to a "global UK" agenda as the international trade minister, which would cement her favorite position among Conservative loyalists. Byrne said that Tras was never a "enthusiastic integration ist" and she soon joined the ranks of Brexit after the referendum in 2016. Robin, director of the Chatham House, British think tank (Chatham House), Robin "She is the kind of person who turns very quickly, "the past is the past, the present is the present."
became the first cabinet member to support Johnson in 2019 after suspending her brief campaign for party leader. Her loyalty was not forgotten, and Tras was appointed to do trade work.
Tras travels around the world and has reached trade agreements with 68 countries and the EU. Critics of her trade record pointed out that the vast majority of these agreements are copies of the terms that the UK had when it was a member of the EU and she did not gain any new benefits. David Henig, director of the U.K. Trade Policy Project of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said: "Most of the things happened before she took office, so I don't think she has made too much credit for it." "I have to admire her one thing that she served as Minister of Trade with great vitality, energy and positive attitude. I think that would win her promotions more than anything she actually achieved."
Her unshakable enthusiasm for the UK won her comparison with another former British Foreign Secretary, : Johnson."She played the extremely optimistic soft nationalism that Johnson had very successfully conveyed and did very successfully," said Malcolm Chalmers, who served as senior special counsel to former Labor Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Margaret Beckett. "It's not a kind of gloomy, pessimistic, backward nationalism. It's a 'nationalist style that we can do. We are Britain, and everything is possible."
"The challenge, of course, is that this radical approach to nationalism runs contrary to the reality of Britain's relationship with its major allies, especially in Europe, which is worse than it has been in years," added Chalmers, who is now deputy director of the Royal United Services think tank.
On July 13, 2019, Leeds Trass (right) and Conservative Leadership Candidate Boris Johnson were in Wiposton, Bedfordshire, England.
Many Conservatives believe that Tras has fulfilled his promise to Brexit , and has been at the top of the party members' polls for months, with a support rate of 82.8% in the recent survey by "Conservative House".
Among those who study the court plot of cabinet restructuring, many believe that appointing her as foreign minister is Johnson's attempt to promote a loyal ally while keeping a potential future rival overseas and away from the domestic spotlight. "Although she was sent abroad, she would find a way to insert herself into the political debate at home," Walsh said. At the Conservative Party convention earlier this month, Tras gave the most detailed outline of foreign policy since taking office in September. "From the situation in the past few days, it is very clear that as a foreign minister, she intends to continue to ideology for Thatcherism ." It is generally expected that she will make deepening trade ties a core part of her mission as a foreign minister, while investing in developing countries to hedge in developing countries. A source close to the Foreign Secretary said the UK is expected to seek more security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, but the discussion is still in its early stages.
In her conference speech, Tras put forward the vision of a "free network" composed of economic, diplomatic and security partnerships. This seems to echo the plan for US President Joe Biden to hold a democratic summit, but during an off-session event, Tras clarified that the free network is not only suitable for democratic countries, but also countries that believe in trade and a rule-based international order.
"Before this, I've never heard anyone express foreign policy principles by insisting on market value rather than democracy. But it's very amazing," Menon, who chaired the event, told Foreign Policy. What is less clear is what role human rights will play in the free network. "I got the impression that it doesn't matter whether a country is democratic or not. It doesn't matter whether a country abuses human rights, because it's sovereignty. But for her, it's important that these countries comply with the rule of law."
Like many senior cabinet members, Tras will now take into account one of the country's important positions while handling her own domestic political destiny. "She is only popular in the grassroots, and other than that, no one really knows who she is. So it will be her chance to show Britain who she is and what she is capable of doing," said Georgina Wright, director of the European Program at the Montaigne Institute in Paris.
Tras's ex Dominic Raab (Dominic Raab) collapsed in the crisis in Afghanistan . Dominic was on vacation when the Taliban advanced towards Kabul . Trass' own achievements in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal and Development may also depend on fate and whether she faces any major crisis. Her achievements so far have shown that she is a competent leader. But she hasn't experienced the fighting test of the unexpected global crisis she might face as a foreign minister.
"Imagine, for example, we have another Libya , and this crisis is too big for the EU and too small for the US," Menon said. "Foreign policy is sometimes driven by events."
* article is reproduced from "The World of Law and the Idea", originally published in Foreign Policy, and the original title is "Liz Truss, True Believer" .
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