Evidence mounts on all sides as to how Britain's standing in the world is in sad decline. After 10 years as the world's fourth largest economy, we have now slipped to sixth place behind China and France. In Wednesday's Daily Telegraph, under the heading "The UK will be missed on the world stage", Irwin Stelzer wrote about the failure of our military missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, and lamented Britain's retreat from an effective role alongside our US partners. On the same day, Max Hastings reported a similar story from America itself, where he was shocked to find how far we have lost the respect earned in the days of Mrs Thatcher.
Another, perhaps less obvious, reason why Britain has lost respect is reflected in a shocking new book, published tomorrow, entitled Brussels Laid Bare, by the EU's sacked former chief accountant, Marta Andreasen. The outline of her story has long been familiar. In 2002, as the first qualified accountant to be given the job, she was appointed to sort out the EU's accounts, which for six years running had not been cleared by the EU's Court of Auditors due to a maze of "irregularities".
In 1999 the entire European Commission had resigned when, thanks not least to a Commission whistleblower, Paul van Buitinen, every kind of fraud and corruption had come to light. Miss Andreasen – who was born to a Danish father, lived in Spain and had worked for various multi-national organisations – began her new job as something of a "European" idealist, hoping she could help to put things right.
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