You are a Prime Minister.

You throw overboard your Defence Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle.

But you feel you owe him. And it’s always better to keep ex-Ministers ostensibly busy, lest they start to chaff at their obviously ‘ex-‘ status and cause trouble in the Party.

Maybe push him for the top job in NATO? Tricky – George Robertson was there recently, plus success on the military side might diminish British prospects for some top EU jobs coming along in due course?

Ah. Got it!

Create a new international Special Envoy position. That will give him a reasonable profile, plus a nice extra salary and office. And keep him out of the country part of the time.

Now, let’s see … which troubled part of the world needs a UK Special Envoy..?

This one.  

Sorted.

Oh Lordy! I did not expect this:

Sri Lanka has angrily rejected Britain’s appointment of Des Browne, the former Defence Minister, as a special envoy to focus on the humanitarian situation in the war-torn Indian Ocean Island.

Rohitha Bogollagama, the Foreign Minister, said last night that the move was "extremely unhelpful" and warned of "major repercussions" for relations between Sri Lanka and its former colonial ruler.

"It is tantamount to an intrusion into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs and is disrespectful to the country’s statehood," he said – just a few hours after Downing Street announced Mr Browne’s appointment to the newly created post.

"There is no further discussion with London on the matter."

How really really not to run a foreign policy?

Maybe this is the deeper problem:

The subversion of commonsense ethics to narrow legalism …

… the sense of decay is palpable. As insouciance mingles with indifference, too many ministers act as if government belongs to them.

The Machine Stops…