CHANGING PARTNERS OR A CLOSER UNION

The trouble with British foreign policy is its lack of consistency. Wh en Lords Palmerston and Salisbury said that Britain had no permanent f riends, only permanent interests, it was regarded as a truth for all a ges. More recently, policy has been characterised by veering from pref erring one international organisation or country to another, sometimes at bewildering speed. The test of the new government, elected an 1 Ma y, will be whether it can stick to what it says.