A totemic austerity measure

As austerity measures go, the plan to share aircraft carriers with France is totemic stuff. Not only could it save the Exchequer a heap of cash – by reducing the need for two replacement carriers – but it also says a lot about how our government wants to operate in the world: multilaterally, flexibly and, perhaps, with less emphasis on military force. Divvying up one’s navy with another country does not suggest a strident foreign policy. Indeed, future operations would have to be planned and conducted with the aid of phonecalls to Paris.

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Of course, this will likely be a controversial move. There are issues of national sovereignty at play – aggravated by the threat of job losses at British shipyards – and that’s before we get onto how this partnership might work in practice, in the face of divergent strategic interests.