UK 21C foreign diplomacy with Yvette Cooper?

Yvette Cooper is the new UK Foreign Minister with a golden opportunity for UK 21C diplomacy reform:

1. Brexit’s Broken Promises

The Gibraltar treaty remains unpublished. Northern Ireland’s border remains a regulatory minefield. CPTPP is signed but stalled. Cooper must release treaty texts, impact assessments, and negotiation memos. And begin a rapid Rejoin after the Brexit mess.

2. CPTPP: Signed, Sealed, Ignored

Canada and Mexico still haven’t ratified UK accession after almost  year. SMEs remain locked out. Investor-State Dispute clauses threaten democratic sovereignty. Cooper must clarify implementation timelines and ISDS exposure. Silence is complicity.

3. Embassy Trade Targets: Lobbying in the Shadows

UK embassies push trade deals, if any, with zero public oversight. Who sets the targets? Who benefits? FOIs will demand embassy-level lobbying logs, promotional budgets, and corporate access records. Cooper must expose the machinery behind the handshake and deliver trade targets per embassy/nation.

4. Commonwealth Tax Havens: Britain’s Offshore Empire

Eight of the world’s top ten tax havens are UK-linked. Cooper must confront the FCDO’s role in enabling global tax abuse. We demand audits of BVI, Cayman, Jersey, and Guernsey. If she won’t act, we’ll take it to the UN tax convention.

5. London’s Embassies: Asset Laundering Under Immunity

Embassy properties near Hyde Park and Knightsbridge operate in a regulatory blind spot. Diplomatic immunity shields ownership, leasing, and asset transfers. Plus UK and Commonwealth tax haven and property/company registers in general. Farage sees more of the Caymans than Clacton. FOI is needed on the FCDO’s exemption records and a diplomatic asset registry. The laundering stops here.

6. Ukraine Aid: MOD Corruption Review

£7.8BN committed. £1.3B in single-source contracts. Training site rejections. Cooper must audit MOD procurement and contractor selection. And escalate to Parliament. How much of Ukraine funds have been siphoned off with a careless MOD from war fighting to politico mansions?

7. Arms Industry Revolving Door

86% of senior MOD officials join arms firms post-service. BAE Systems fingerprints are everywhere in hyping threats for gold-plated arms systems. We must demand FOIs on post-employment approvals and procurement overlaps for all Colonels and Generals. Cooper must ban the revolving door or own its consequences.

8. Military Bases: Colonial Holdovers

Cyprus, Kenya, Oman, Gibraltar, Falklands—145 overseas sites across 42 countries. Cooper must publish lease terms, local impact assessments, and strategic objectives. Most of these bases are vanity colonial relics and demand democratic exit strategies. Similarly all MOD land/barracks in UK need itemising and the vast majority sold off for housing or parks.

9. China’s $1M Bounty on Hong Kong Dissidents

UK-linked activists face transnational repression. Cooper must guarantee asylum, consular protection, and Magnitsky sanctions. FOIs must target FCDO protocols and diplomatic responses. Bounty hunters or Dissident assassins must not roam free.

10. UK–USA Trade: The Car Tariff Trap

Trump’s 25% car tariffs threaten UK exports. Cooper must publish negotiation memos, tech tax concessions, and retaliatory options. Trade policy seems idle and elite theatre unless she proves otherwise.

11. Sahel Famine & African Union Reform

Sahel exit fractures ECOWAS. Kenya’s Ruto leads AU stagnant reform. Cooper must clarify UK-AU funding, famine response, and institutional support. Abolitionist aid architecture is key—community-led, reparative, and non-extractive.

12. UN Bloat & Reform

The UN faces accusations of antisemitism, Gaza inaction, Africa and Arabia Forever Wars, endemic slum poverty and structural bias. Cooper must publish UK contributions, reform positions, and veto records. UK should push for conditional funding and democratic restructuring.

13. FCDO Flights, Cars, Gifts

Ministerial travel, hospitality, and perks remain underreported. Cooper must release carbon footprints, procurement records, and undeclared benefits. Diplomatic privilege must not slip into elite excess.

14. Commonwealth Blue Economy: Fish, Waste, Seabed, Shipwrecks

The Blue Charter lacks enforcement. CME programme closed. Cooper must audit marine waste, seabed mining, and shipwreck salvage. Participatory ocean governance and anti-extractive reform are vital.

15. Mars Embassy Concept

Norman Foster’s Mars habitat and Blue Origin’s telecom orbiter signal elite space capture. Cooper must clarify UK space diplomacy, funding, and diplomatic planning. 

16. Commonwealth Drowning Crisis

40% of global drowning deaths occur in Commonwealth states eg Bangladesh, India and Nigeria. 54% are children. In all sincerity, Cooper must publish UK-funded water safety programmes and climate adaptation plans. 

17. UK Hostages & Prisoners Abroad

Over 1,000 detained Brits. FCDO refuses ransom or policy concessions. Cooper must publish consular protocols, negotiation records, and trauma-informed repatriation plans. And reverse the astonishing failure of elderly Aung San Suu Kyi left to rot in jail.

Final Word: The Broom Is Watching

Yvette Cooper may be the new broom, but the public are the dust inspectors. Every axis above is rupture-ready. Every silence will be seen as failure.

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