Quote of the Day 10th December 2024 – The Foreign Minister who doesn’t know geography

Not everyone who studies geography in schools will find a use for that subject in later life. Apart from knowing which capital city belongs to what country, geography will not be a subject that might be useful in a person’s career.

But do you know what job really needs the occupant to be fully aware and informed of geography? It’s the job of UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of course. This is definitely a job where knowledge of geography at a reasonably advanced level might be very useful.

Unfortunately a knowledge of geography is not one of the skills that Mr David Lammy the current incumbent of the office of UK Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary appears to have. According to former Sunday Times editor Mr Andrew Neil, David Lammy claimed in a Commons committee meeting that Libya is next door to Syria. Readers with relatively basic knowledge of geography will know that this is not the case.

Mr Neil said on X.

https://x.com/afneil/status/1866266366963052990

The post of Foreign Secretary is one of what are called the Great Offices of State in the UK. It’s an office that has been occupied by politicians both good and bad as could be expected for an office that has existed since 1782. But I’d be hard pushed to find any Foreign Secretary who is as obviously incompetent as David Lammy. Whether it’s his student union type pronouncements on the situation in the Middle East or his handling of other international issues David Lammy has been found wanting.

So that’s where we are in Britain these days. We have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who isn’t well versed in economics, a Home Secretary who doesn’t understand that a nation needs to properly control its borders, an Energy Secretary who doesn’t understand energy supply and now a Foreign Secretary who doesn’t know where Syria is. What an absolute and total mess Britain is now in. I despair of it sometimes I really do.