AP Photo

First, credit where credit is due. David Cameron may be overdoing things a bit in his drive for trade opportunities in India – it could be called hypocritical to demand that India opens its doors to free trade whilst we close our doors to free immigration – but in terms of recalibrating British foreign policy, the Prime Minister has picked up the ball and is playing it with quite astonishing panache.

He said before the election that he wanted to take the country away from its excessive pursuit of influence through a "junior partnership" with the United States to a more genuinely worldwide view based on our interests, country by country, and that...