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What can David Cameron learn from Nordic PMs turned foreign ministers?

The appointment of former UK PM David Cameron as foreign minister has been greeted with astonishment, but Sweden's Carl Bildt and Denmark's Lars Løkke Rasmussen made the same move. What can Cameron learn from them?

Published: 14 November 2023 14:08 CET

What can David Cameron learn from Nordic PMs turned foreign ministers?

Denmark's Lars Løkke Rasmussen (left), and Sweden's Carl Bildt (right) have both made the same move from prime minister to foreign minister that the UK's David Cameron (centre) has taken. Photo: Hannah McKay, Tolga Akmen, Odd Andersen/AFP

Rasmussen, who served two terms as Denmark’s prime minister, from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019, was appointed foreign minister last December by the Social Democrat prime minister who had ousted him nearly four years earlier.

Bildt had to wait longer. After serving as prime minister between 1991 and 1994, he was appointed foreign minister twelve years later in 2006, staying in the post two full terms until 2014.

Never one to miss an opportunity to draw attention to himself on X, Bildt on Monday welcomed Cameron to the “rather distinguished club of former PM’s becoming Foreign Minister”.

Here’s what Cameron can learn from Rasmussen and Bildt’s records.

1. Your failures as PM need not get in the way

Neither has anything on the record quite as dramatic as Cameron’s decision to call and subsequent get defeated in the Brexit referendum. Their experiences do, however, show that what you did as PM need not matter that much.

Bildt’s term was rocky, to say the least, with Sweden’s Riksbank – then not wholly independent of government – in 1992 forced to raise interest rates to a hair-raising 500 percent to defend the krona. His government also brought in the liberal system of for-profit, government-funded free schools which some see as to blame for a sharp drop in the performance of Sweden’s schools.

“People remember him for being a really strong political leader when it comes to foreign policy, not for being a strong prime minister,” said Jenny Madestam, Associate Professor in Politics at Stockholm’s Södertörn University, although she said he was nonetheless “an iconic leader” in Sweden’s Moderate Party.

A key difference from Cameron, of course, is that Bildt’s government oversaw the referendum that brought his country into the EU, and not one that saw it leave.

Løkke Rasmussen, on the other hand, led a government that shocked many internationally with its hardline response to the 2015 refugee crisis, at one point passing a law allowing asylum seekers to be stripped of jewellery to pay for their accommodation.

In neither case has their record been a hindrance to their performances as foreign minister, with Rasmussen much softer on immigration and immigrants than he was as prime minister, helping, for instance, to draw up a ban on Quran-burning.

2. Being patrician and aristocratic works well internationally

With his Eton education, stockbroker father and baronet grandfather, David Cameron is sometimes criticised for his privilege. But Bildt is, if anything, even more aristocratic, coming from a long line of Danish-Swedish nobles and boasting a general as a grandfather and a 19th century prime minister as a great great grandfather.

But while this sort of background can be a disadvantage when trying to engage with voters, it’s a good preparation for the flurry of international summits, dinners, and embassy events that come with being foreign minister – as evidenced by the concentration of nobility within Sweden’s foreign ministry.

Bildt was so in his element as foreign minister that he has carried on jetting around the world meeting international leaders, both as a consultant and on any number of short-term assignments, for most of the ten years since he left the post.

Rasmussen, however, has a lower middle class background, being the first in his family to go to university.

3. You can bring some of your prime ministerial status to your role as foreign minister

Whether it’s a summit of the European Union, the United Nations, or of Nato, prime ministers often take over from their foreign ministers when it comes to crunch decisions. Rasmussen met Benjamin Netanyahu countless times in his role as prime minister, something he has been able to exploit as foreign minister during the Israel-Gaza crisis.

“It has been a strength for Rasmussen to have been prime minister because he has a lot of contacts,” Peter Nedergaard, a politics professor at Copenhagen University, told The Local. “He can easily pick up the phone and call heads of states around the world, and the same goes for David Cameron.”

Bildt as foreign minister brought with him the heft he had gained, not only from his term as prime minister, but from his positions as the EU’s Special Envoy to Former Yugoslavia, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Balkans.

This is where Cameron differs.

“David Cameron has been out of politics for now almost four or five years, whereas Lars Løkke Rasmussen was always in politics,” Nedergaard pointed out. “He was a member of parliament all the time. So there’s no gap for him. David Cameron has been out of sight for a long time.”

4. It’s quite easy to stay out of the current PM’s way

Foreign Minister is the ministerial role where it’s easiest to stay out of the prime minister’s way. Rasmussen has rarely clashed with Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, even though he was her main opponenent in the 2019 election.

Similarly, Barack Obama appointed Hillary Clinton, his rival in the 2008 Democrat primary, Secretary of State, on taking office.

Rasmussen has handled this very carefully, Nedergaard explained.

“His approach is to be very humble vis-à-vis the prime minister, always showing that he’s not the number one any more. Often, he says, ‘this is not my decision’, so attitude is very important.”

Similarly, Bildt managed to carry out his role without much friction with Fredrik Reinfeldt, even though Reinfeldt had taken the Moderate Party to the centre of Swedish politics, abandoning much of the liberal economic programme Bildt had fought for.

“He had he had a low profile in the in the government as a whole,” Madestam said. “He was really focused on the foreign policy, and everyone knows that that is his first and foremost interest and also what he’s really good at.”

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INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and British in Spain felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of Jane Golding

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 5.5 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

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