This article was written by Nick Clegg and appeared in today’s Daily Telegraph

At long last we are reaching the final act of Labour’s disastrous foreign policy. Today’s evidence from Tony Blair, Labour’s best-rehearsed performer, to the Iraq inquiry will be a pivotal moment in answering a question millions of British people are still asking themselves: why did we participate in an illegal invasion of another country?

But as the Chilcot Inquiry reminds us once again of all the tortuous twists and turns of that fateful decision, there is a risk that a much larger question will go unaddressed: namely, why have successive governments, both Labour and Conservative, chosen to make British foreign policy subservient to the interests of the United States?

Ever since the Suez crisis, the British political establishment has operated on the principle that the “Special Relationship” is sacrosanct. Tony Blair himself spelt out the stark consequences: “They [the US] need to know, are you prepared to commit, are you prepared to be there when the shooting starts?”

I am a strong believer in the value of the transatlantic relationship. It is obvious that Britain’s interests on everything from terrorism to climate change and banking regulation to military procurement are heavily influenced by the policies of the world’s leading superpower. I would never advocate a churlish rejection of our historic alliance with the United States. But an alliance must be balanced by the interests of both parties. It must not be a one-way street. Where Britain’s interests diverge from those of the United States, we must have the freedom and self-confidence to say so.

Yet the reality is that, on far too many issues, Britain has acted as a passive satellite state for American interests: Tony Blair and Gordon Brown remained shamefully silent about allegations of torture at Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition; neither the Conservatives nor Labour are prepared to question the case for the like-for-like replacement of Trident, a Cold War system dependent on Pentagon support.

Both parties were mute during the disproportionate military operation by Israel in Gaza a year ago, for fear of contradicting US policy in the Middle East. When George W Bush proposed locating the forward stations for his ill-judged missile defence shield in Yorkshire, the Government immediately agreed to make British facilities available, rather than dare to question the wisdom of the scheme; and crucially, we pursued a hopelessly under-resourced strategy in Afghanistan for eight years because of the Bush-Blair obsession with fighting an unjustified war in Iraq instead.

So the decision to invade Iraq is not the only example of subservience by default to the White House. It is simply the most dramatic. Meanwhile, the world is evolving fast in ways that make the sacred status of the Special Relationship ever harder to justify. The rise of China and India as the new superpowers of the East heralds an emerging world order in which power and influence are more dispersed. A world-view based on the pre-eminence of a single nation over all others will make less and less sense in the decades ahead.

Most telling of all is the attitude of the United States towards Britain. At the height of the Cold War, Europe was the stage upon which the great ideological conflict between capitalism and communism was played out. The world order was organised around the Berlin Wall. At that time, Britain logically stood out as the most important ally for the United States – a partner in Western Europe that could be relied on to hold the line against the Soviet Union’s influence in a way that France, Germany and Italy could not. The United Kingdom was the stable bridge across the Atlantic, cemented by the Nato alliance, that allowed the United States to confront Moscow – and win.

Now, however, Europe occupies an entirely different place in the strategic calculations of President Obama and his administration. Now the challenge to US power comes from Beijing and Delhi, not Moscow. Now there are a host of other European countries, especially those released from the yoke of Soviet rule in Central and Eastern Europe, who are just as willing as the UK to promote and defend US interests.

In other words, President Obama does not need to cherish one relationship in Europe above all others in the way his predecessors did. Indeed, he has made it crystal clear that the value of the United Kingdom to the United States these days lies in our ability to foster greater coherence within Europe, so that America can increasingly deal with Europe as one. This is a simple point, but one entirely lost, it seems, on the Conservative Party.

The way in which Europe was sidelined by a deal between the US and China at the Copenhagen summit last month illustrates a new, brutal reality: Europe will only count for something in the new world order if it becomes the sum of its parts. A divided Europe will be swept aside. So Britain has a simple choice: do we persist in believing that a limpet-like allegiance to the Special Relationship will serve our interests? Or do we drop our sentimental attachment to a world which no longer exists, and pursue our own interests by standing tall in our own European backyard? My answer is clear: it’s time we repatriate our foreign policy, for the good of Britain.

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

It has been revealed that Government departments have spent £10 million renting office space that has been left empty.

The empty office space is equal to 10 football pitches, and it has led to accusations that ministers are wasting taxpayers’ money.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was the worst offender, paying out £4.7 million on office space that has not been used, followed by the Department of Health with £2.9 million, and the Department for Transport and its agencies with £1.1 million, and the Cabinet Office has empty rented space costing £620,000 a year, which it said it was trying to dispose of, and the Department for Communities and Local Government said its empty office space is costing the equivalent of £124,643 a year.

Whitehall departments disclosed a total of 575,815 square feet of office space that was left empty at an annual cost to taxpayers of at least £9.69 million

Other departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, admitted leaving rented offices empty, but refused to say how much they cost.

The figures were released after parliamentary questions from Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat shadow housing minister, who described the situation as “completely unacceptable”

She said:

“We are in the middle of a housing crisis, yet Gordon Brown chooses to pour millions into a big black hole. This is an astonishing betrayal of the thousands of families across the UK without a home.

“This kind of shameful waste simply cannot be allowed to go on. Government departments need to wake up and stop leaking tax payer’s money like a sieve.”

“The Liberal Democrats would give schools the extra money they need to cut class sizes and give individual attention to children who are struggling,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary.

Commenting on Government figures showing that almost a third of poor boys cannot write their own name after a year at primary school, David Laws said:
 
“These depressing figures reveal that the gap between poorer children and the better-off is clear when they are only five years old.

“Labour’s shameful failure to give children from disadvantaged backgrounds extra support means that this gap grows wider as children grow older.

“The Liberal Democrats would give schools the extra money they need to cut class sizes and give individual attention to children who are struggling.”

“The critical thing now is to re-build public confidence and finally lay to rest the suggestion that children’s health is at risk from this vaccine,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb.

Commenting on today’s ruling by the General Medical Council that Dr. Andrew Wakefield acted irresponsibly by stating there was a link between MMR and autism, Norman Lamb said:

“The impact of Dr. Wakefield’s conduct on public health in this country has been profoundly and deeply damaging.

“The dramatic decline in take up of the MMR vaccine resulting from unfounded fears generated by Dr. Wakefield have set back this key health initiative in the most serious way.

“This has been a long, drawn out process.  The critical thing now is to re-build public confidence and finally lay to rest the suggestion that children’s health is at risk from this vaccine.”

“There is still no sign that the documents that need to be made public for this to be a meaningful hearing will be released,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, EdDavey.

Commenting ahead of Tony Blair’s appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry tomorrow, Edward Davey said:

“There is still no sign that the documents that need to be made public for this to be a meaningful hearing will be released.

“If a short adjournment is necessary to ensure that this vital information is declassified, then this should be considered. However, the Government should have no trouble with fast-tracking the release of a handful of key memos and letters.

“If Blair’s correspondence with Bush, and key memos from advisers to Blair cannot be discussed fully and openly tomorrow, the public will justifiably see another Labour cover-up at work.

“These documents must not remain buried in Downing Street filing cabinets. Gordon Brown must act now if he wants to avoid the charge of a whitewash.”

“The Liberal Democrats would introduce fully flexible parental leave which can be shared between parents,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws.

Commenting on the Government announcement on paternity leave, David Laws said:
 
“The Government fails to understand that all families are different and need far more flexibility when it comes to parental leave. Labour seems to think it knows best when it comes to how families should arrange their lives.
 
“Instead of more rigid and complex reforms, the Liberal Democrats would introduce fully flexible parental leave which can be shared between parents as they see fit. 
 
“Giving both parents meaningful time to spend with their newborn child will help families to bond and enjoy valuable time together.”

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to increasing police numbers of every area of the country,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne.

Commenting on figures showing the number of police officers has fallen in most forces, Chris Huhne said:
 
“This is a worrying sign of what is to come as budgets are cut and numbers fall in over half of all police forces.
 
“Instead of squandering billions on ID cards, the Government should concentrate on getting more police officers out on the beat.
 
“The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to increasing police numbers of every area of the country. It is time for the other parties to come clean about their plans.”

“The easy availability of cheap alcohol is encouraging ever greater numbers of people to drink unsafe amounts,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster.

Commenting on ONS reports today that reveal the number of people dying from alcohol is on the rise, while people from managerial and professional jobs drink more than those in manual jobs, Don Foster said:

“The increase in the number of people dying because of alcohol clearly shows we are facing a serious health crisis.
 
“The easy availability of cheap alcohol is encouraging ever greater numbers of people to drink unsafe amounts.
 
“Today’s reports also shows there’s a danger that the country is in the grips of a hidden middle class drinking epidemic.
 
“Current measures to control drinking are not working. Stopping supermarkets from selling alcohol at pocket money prices would be a powerful tactic in stemming this increase.”

Commenting on today’s PAC report on chlamydia, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

“The Government has totally failed to get to grips with the problems caused by STIs. There appears to have been chaos and confusion over implementing the programme in many areas.

“Instead of actually tackling the staggeringly high infection rates in young people, ministers seem to be more interested in producing pamphlets.

“Screening is a vital part of an effective solution to the chlamydia problem in this country. The Government needs to get its act together to make sure health trusts work to cut infection rates.”

The Liberal Democrats have launched new proposals to tighten rules on the employment of foreign doctors following the death of a 70-year-old man treated by a doctor from Germany.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb called for a number of reforms, which including a national language and competency test for every doctor wishing to work in the UK.

The demand comes after David Gray, from Manea, Cambridgeshire, died after he was given more than 10 times the recommended daily dose of diamorphine by Daniel Ubani, a locum doctor from Germany.

Dr Ubani, 67, had been on his first shift working for an out-of-hours medical service when the overdose was administered on February 16, 2008, an inquest into Mr Gray’s death has heard.

The Liberal Democrats say that the reforms should ensure that a suspension in one country is effective across the whole of European Economic Area, which covers the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

It should also be a criminal offence for a primary care trust to allow a doctor to work without ensuring compliance with these regulations, the Liberal Democrats said.

Mr Lamb said:

“The tragic death of David Gray raises serious concerns about the safety of out of hours care in this country. We cannot allow a situation to continue where we are reliant on tired, overworked foreign doctors to cover out of hours care.

“Patients’ lives are being put at risk because standards across Europe are not uniformly good and foreign doctors can practice in the NHS without a test of competence and language.

“Ministers have known for some time that the safeguards in place were not adequate but they have completely failed to take action.

“These proposals will ensure that every doctor working in this country can speak English, is familiar with our health service and is well trained.”