Did Theresa May make veiled criticisms of Donald Trump in UN speech?
While condemnation of Russia was explicit, there were parts of her speech that seemed to be veiled criticisms of the US president.
Thursday 27 September 2018 03:32, UK
In the next few months almost all of Theresa May's political bandwidth will be taken with Brexit.
But the UN General Assembly provided her an opportunity to focus on what is fast becoming a core part of her global outlook.
It is not a new message, but it is one she feels carries real urgency - that the erosion of the international rules-based order, be it the use of nerve agents on the streets of Salisbury, or chemical weapons attacks in Syria, must be challenged more robustly by the global community.
Mrs May said world leaders needed to have the "confidence to act when the fundamental rules that we live by are broken".
She insisted "mistakes" made in the past in efforts to "impose democracy on other countries through regime change" should not "paralyse" the international community when "long-established norms are violated".
But while the condemnation of Russia was explicit and set out repeatedly, there were other parts of her speech which seemed to be veiled criticisms of US President Donald Trump.
Yesterday the president said he rejected the "ideology of globalism" in favour of the ideology of "patriotism".
Contrast that with this comment from Mrs May.
She said: "We have seen what happens when the natural patriotism which is a cornerstone of a healthy society is warped into aggressive nationalism, exploiting fear and uncertainty to promote identity politics at home and belligerent confrontation abroad, while breaking rules and undermining institutions."
Downing Street officials insist the prime minister's use of the word patriotism is intended broadly and is in no way an attack on the US president, but it is not difficult to see how some could come to that conclusion.
It is a good example of the difficulty Mrs May faces in this setting compared to leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Emmanuel Macron.
Both her European counterparts have been far more explicit in their condemnation of Mr Trump, but Mrs May simply cannot risk doing so.
When asked about her relationship with the president, the normal response of her spokesman is to say there are areas where they disagree, and she's not afraid to say so when they do, but they work well together on common challenges.
But while she is so politically dependent on keeping the prospect of a post-Brexit US-UK trade deal alive, Mrs May has to calculate how to express any disagreement very carefully.
She simply cannot risk an angry backlash from the volatile president.
Given how seriously she takes the risks posed by the kind of isolationism typified by Mr Trump's trade wars, or the recklessness the UK government perceives in his abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal, that leaves her in a fairly compromising position.