The Pole who is Europe’s man to watch

Allister Heath meets Radek Sikorski, the Polish defence minister, and hears his robust views on al-Qa’eda, economic reform and the European Union

There are old Cold Warriors — and then there are those who actually donned combat fatigues, picked up AK-47s, and trekked halfway around the world. In the case of Radek Sikorski, a Polish Solidarity student activist who found refuge in Britain, the calling of the Afghan mujahedin proved irresistible and he spent a lengthy period in the late 1980s undercover with the guerrillas as they fought the Red Army to the death.

Today, the 43-year-old Sikorski, a former journalist for The Spectator and husband of one of the magazine’s contributing editors, Anne Applebaum, is Poland’s defence minister and a rising star in Eastern European politics. When I met him over a cup of tea last week at the magazine’s offices in Doughty Street — I believe him when he tells me that almost nothing has changed since his days — Sikorski was in reflective mood.