Denis returns to the charge in a comment on my previous posting:

I think Charles gives the game away when he says he will vote Conservative. I campaign against Islamist bigotry and regularly criticise Iran and other oppressive majority Muslim nations in the House of Commons. But the notion that because the UK as a state has properly friendly relations with Poland its politicians cannot be criticised takes diplomatic omerta to new heights.

I would urge him, Iain Dale and others who have defended the populist rightwing allies of David Cameron to read the new book "The Populist Radical Right in Poland (Extremism and Democracy)" by Rafal Pankowski, an Eton and Oxford educated Pole. It was published by Routledge in February.

Or he could glance at the current Economist dissection of Conservative policy on Europe or read Gideon Rachman in yesterday's FT saying that a Cameron government would "point to isolationism." I can think why someone like Charles might vote Conservative but on foreign policy surely even he might admit that the Conservatives are weak.

And by the way does he agree with the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, that gays can be banned from bed and breakfast small hotels in Britain

As for the last utterly irrelevant point, we seem to live in a strange country where it is OK to ban children but not gays.

If a devout Muslim or Christian bed-and-breakfast owner wants to offer space only to some sorts of people (eg believers) but not others, so what? Likewise if a gay bed-and-breakfast owner wants to make his place a gays-only B&B, so what? And if any owner wants to allow smoking on his property, so what?

The fact is that our laws on what is public and private and why and when are a complete mess. All our political parties are loath to have a principled debate about Freedom, something we all agree has been grossly reduced under Labour. Let's try getting back towards it?

Anyway. Conservative v Labour on foreign policy.

Denis suggests that I read a book about the Populist Radical Right in Poland by one Rafal Pankowski (Eton and Oxford!). At least some Etonians are held in high esteem by Labour.

Alas, that is a bit too elitist, even for me. It costs (guess) ... £76 on Amazon! Maybe MPs get such books on allowances. I'll wait for the Oxfam shop version to appear.

I previously have written about the difficulties (for us) of classifying politics in Poland.

On most economic issues President Kaczynski has obvious 'Left' collectivist/etatist instincts (suspicious of privatisation, strong on state control of key sectors, supportive of trade unions and so on). On others (private morality, patriotism) he is what we in the UK tend to see as socially 'Right'.

As for populist movements in Poland, when I was there they were basically Red-Brown by instinct, ie high on Polish exclusivity + ill-disguised hostility to other nations/races, + high on state control. In other words, classic central European post-modern lumpen national socialism.

So to call these phenomena the 'Radical Right' looks to me to be a priori dishonest. They were/are (if anything) the Radical Left.

Denis knows all this as well as I do. So he resorts to a limp play on the Law of the Excluded Middle:

... the notion that because the UK as a state has properly friendly relations with Poland its politicians cannot be criticised takes diplomatic omerta to new heights.

[Time out to look up omerta]

Pronunciation: \ȯ-ˈmer-tä\

Function: foreign term

Etymology: Italian

: conspiracy of silence

What? Where have I said that Poland's politicians can not be criticised?

Criticise them as you like. But, if you want to do so and be taken seriously, do so on the basis of some coherent principle. My objection to this tired Labour mud-slinging is that it is insulting to Poles and Poland, and banally dishonest in substance.

To be quite precise: if Labour really think that PiS are some sort of extremist untouchable fascist-Lite party, why have they not made a peep of complaint in meetings with top PiS people about PiS policies?

Answer: because they do not think that. On the contrary, they saw the Kaczynski twins as key and friendly allies in getting what they saw as a good deal for the UK from the Lisbon Treaty negotiations. I was there when Tony Blair met the Kaczynskis in Warsaw.

Moving on. Denis raises a good wider point. Will Conservative policies on Europe (such as they are) lead to the UK's 'isolation'?

No. This is the purest rubbish. Why?

Because it ignores the only thing which really matters in the EU, namely Money. The UK pays a large net amount into the EU pot. Everyone else ignominiously (for them) clamours for our generosity. So we are never going to be isolated.

And while the EU creaks at the seams as the Eurozone risks collapse, the role of the UK in eventually redefining the project will be vital.

Finally, do I admit that the Conservatives are weak on foreign policy'?

Good question. What does it mean? Weakness in Aims plus weakness in Process leading to weakness of Outcomes?

On Aims, the general weakness of the UK's foreign policy as a whole comes down to the blunder of New Labour in creating DFID ("the worst decision we ever took" - Robin Cook) which separated out Policy from Resources. Alas for the UK, no party seems ready to Just Do It and bring DFID and the FCO back under one roof. But it has to happen sooner or later, and the Conservatives are more likely to grasp the nettle. 

In these gloomy circumstances I would expect William Hague as Foreign Secretary to do a good job on Process, restoring high(er) standards to FCO work by treating the dry rot of wasteful process and political correctness which has so demoralised colleagues there. He might even help the FCO get back to good spelling.

Plus within a Conservative government he would have significant personal authority, giving foreign policy a weight within government it has lacked since Robin Cook resigned.

On Outcomes, I would expect the Conservatives to do far better than Labour in playing hardball and actually having policies in some areas, rather than outsourcing thinking to flaccid EU Working Groups.

I would expect the Conservatives to be much tougher than Tony Blair was (in 2005) in negotiating the next EU Budget, insisting on deeper reforms and even cuts to EU funding as a price for our continuing contributions. Note: I could end up disappointed.

But otherwise is there much to choose between Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem foreign policy proposals? Not really.

That said, at least under the Conservatives we would not have the sheer rudeness and incompetence which Labour far too often have brought to dealings with senior foreign personalities.

Of which, as Denis all too well knows, Gordon Brown has been the leading force in eg his unrelenting flat refusal as Chancellor to see senior foreign leaders (including famously President Kaczynski when he visited London).

Conclusion?

Denis knows that he can not make any sort of persuasive professional case based on Labour's foreign policy record. In far too many areas of substance and professional technique Labour have been just wretched.

So he hauls his flea-bitten Dead Cat out of its smelly box and tosses it at David Cameron: I admit Labour were bad - but the Tories will be worse.

Fine. That's modern politics.

I'll take my chances with a Change.