The Question That Started Future Statecraft
Why I'm here, and why I'll be back
Before 14 February 2025, I thought I would never return to the world of politics and international relations. Seven years after exiting that arena in pursuit of a new path in entrepreneurship, everything changed when JD Vance took the stage at the Munich Security Conference. In his speech, he tore through Europe’s assumptions about the transatlantic alliance and the world order that has underpinned our peace and prosperity for eighty years.
Like many students of history and international relations probably did that day, I felt the ground shifting beneath me. I remember messaging family and friends to tell them I thought war was now more likely than not to reach further into Europe in the next few years – a prediction we’re still teetering on the edge of. What followed – the attempts to force capitulation on Ukraine, ambushing Zelensky in the Oval Office, the tariffs, Greenland – confirmed where we’re headed.
All of this I watched with alarm. The urge to do something – I didn’t know what yet – grew. But it was complicated – I run a busy business and have an even busier toddler. I told myself it wasn’t the right season of life to take on a new commitment. And, in any case, what could I really do? I’d been out of this world for years, I live in west Wales, my ability to actually change things is limited.
But a question changed my mind. Etched on the face of my little boy. He’s only two-and-a-half, so he mostly asks me about dinosaurs and snacks. But I couldn’t get this one out of my head.
Children have a way of forcing you to hold a mirror up to yourself. The question isn’t one he’ll ask now, but later, when he’s older and living in a world created in the aftermath of whatever comes next.
What did you do?
That’s the question that started Future Statecraft. It sits behind every essay or article I write about how Britain and other liberal democracies can rethink statecraft as the rules-based order retreats. My time is limited, so when I write something, it’s because I have something that I think is worth saying – something worthy of answering that question.
I’m writing this because I’m about to down my pen for a month as I start paternity leave for a second time. Another boy. I’m excited, a little anxious, and not quite ready. But he’s coming this week, and I can’t wait to meet him.
Then I’ll have two little faces to look at when I think about that question. And so I will be back – because I’ll need to have an answer. Until then.