UK backs Brazil bid for UN security council seat

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, has backed Brazil’s case for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, only a day after Barack Obama, US president, said India should be given permanent membership.

The British move comes despite Brazil’s controversial position on Iran.

The South American country, like India, has long campaigned for a greater say in multilateral forums such as the UN, saying this reflects its claim to be a responsible global power.

But its co-operation with Turkey in defying the five permanent Security Council members over Iran sanctions earlier this year was thought to have weakened its case, especially in the US and France.

“We will continue to call for reform of the UN, including an expanded Security Council with Brazil as a permanent member,” Mr Hague said on Tuesday at the annual Canning lecture in London.

“It is entirely fitting that a region that provided nearly half of the founding members of the United Nations is represented fully in international institutions.”

Mr Hague argued that the UK needed to deepen its Latin American ties after a long period of neglect. He pointed out that, before the first world war, a quarter of the region’s trade was with the UK, but that Britain now supplied “barely 1 per cent of all international exports” to Latin America.

In this, too, he seemed to be taking a leaf out of George Canning’s book. The 19th century British statesman, who was an ardent advocate of Latin American independence – if only to promote British commercial interests abroad – once claimed that he had “called the New World into existence, to redress the balance of the Old”.

Mr Hague said: “Britain’s retreat from the region is over, and it is now time for an advance to begin.”

Brazil’s projection of itself as a world power has grown under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, outgoing president, while its approach towards Iran was criticised as much domestically as abroad. Dilma Rousseff, president-elect, is broadly expected to continue the approach of Mr Lula da Silva.

Andrew Hurrell, a professor of international relations at Balliol College, Oxford, said: “Mr Hague’s speech shows that Iran hasn’t led to the world opposing Brazil. I’d imagine the government is pleased that its pitch has not been entirely queered.”

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, told the UN general assembly last month that Britain wanted to see the Security Council reformed to reflect the emergence of developing powers, including Brazil.

The risk for Britain is that the inclusion of other “Bric” – Brazil, Russia, India and China – powers underlines the fact that its own membership rests solely on its nuclear power status. The Security Council’s five current permanent members are China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.