UK hints at foreign policy shift

BBC

Douglas Alexander delivered the speech in Washington DC A British Cabinet minister has hinted at a change in the relationship between the UK and US.

Speaking in the US, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander emphasised the need for "new alliances, based on common values".

He warned against unilateralism and called for an "internationalist approach" to global problems.

Correspondents say the speech appeared to be a "coded criticism" of the policies of President George W Bush.

Mr Alexander's speech came as the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted in favour of pulling most combat troops out of Iraq by April next year.

The vote came despite President Bush's threat to veto any timetable for withdrawal.

'Shared solutions'

In his speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC, Mr Alexander said isolationism "simply does not work in an interdependent world".

"In the 20th Century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st Century strength should be measured by what we can build together," he said.

Our place in the world depends on us making choices based on values - values like opportunity, responsibility, justice

"And so we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world.

"There is no security or prosperity at home unless we deal with the global challenges of security, globalisation, climate change, disease and poverty.....