'We're back in business," a Foreign Office acquaintance gleefully proclaimed when I arrived yesterday for William Hague's first major speech since becoming Foreign Secretary. And after I'd listened to Mr Hague expound the principles upon which our engagement with the world will be conducted, I could understand why his appointment is generating such enthusiasm among his normally demure officials.
It was not just Mr Hague's evocation of Castlereagh and Salisbury, who occupied his post when Britain had an empire to run, that summoned fond memories of past glories. It was the sheer ambition of his vision for the nation that has brought a spring to the step of Her Majesty's diplomatic service.
