TEHRAN— Liz Truss, the UK's third female prime minister, made a key decision when she nominated James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary. Why is this decision significant to the West Asian region?

Truss took over as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Tuesday, succeeding lame duck Boris Johnson, who stepped out in a defiant speech at Downing Street in London before both politicians went to Scotland to see the Queen for a power handover.

Truss, who served as Foreign Secretary in the previous government, takes office after winning the Conservative Party leadership election to replace Johnson, who resigned in July following a series of scandals. Her appointment addresses a long-standing leadership deficit in the UK as the country's worst economic crisis in decades worsens.

Truss did not even mention the West Asian region in her first speech as the new UK prime minister, implying that her foreign policy will be significantly influenced by the U.S. approach.

Cleverly, a Truss loyalist who served as a junior minister in the department for two years and as education secretary for a few weeks, has now taken Truss' hot seat. In less than five years, he will become the fifth British Foreign Secretary.

Cleverly was elected to the House of Commons in Braintree, Essex, in 2015, and served as chairman of the Conservative Party before entering FCDO as a minister in February 2020. While serving as the Middle East and North Africa Minister, he managed to develop a strong reputation at the department as an effective and proactive diplomat. In fact, he was the last Middle East Minister before the position was abolished in February 2022, just two weeks before the Russia-Ukraine crisis erupted.

While Truss was distracted with the war in Ukraine, he was elevated to minister of state for Europe and North America in February 2022, thus making him the deputy foreign secretary.

According to a senior Foreign Office official who spoke to The National, it would be "a day or so before an announcement would unfold," but "yes, the office (of Middle East Minister) will be restored."

Truss attempted to enhance relations with Persian Gulf Arab countries while acting as Foreign Secretary. On December 20 last year, she hosted the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait, the UAE assistant minister for political affairs and permanent representative to the United Nations, and the Secretary-General of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) at Chevening House.

Despite attempts, the United Kingdom, like any other geo-strategically vital region, has long lost touch with the West Asian region.

The United Kingdom has maintained a farcical foreign policy method that mimics every step made by the United States. West Asia is no different.

Johnson recommended his successor to "stay close to the Americans" in his farewell speech to the UK parliament.

Following the May 2021 attack on Gaza, the Johnson administration also opposed an International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into Israeli war crimes.

To compensate for Brexit trade losses, armament sales to the Persian Gulf Arab states were increased during the Johnson-Truss administration, and Britain has obediently followed suit as the Biden administration fails to re-establish the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.

After taking over as Prime Minister after two years as Foreign Secretary, Johnson primarily strengthened the UK's partnerships in the region, although his tenure was also distinguished by a number of perceived unforced errors.

Regarding the Palestinian issue, Jeremy Corbyn's reputation as a fervent defender of the Palestinians, as well as the party's long-running controversy over antisemitism claims, provided adequate opportunity for Johnson's government to demonstrate its pro-Israel qualifications.

Johnson's government announced in November 2021 that it would classify the Palestinian movement Hamas as a terrorist organization in its entirety in the UK, having previously only done so for its military arm.

The new rule stated that "members of Hamas or anyone who solicit support for the group may face up to 14 years in prison," with Home Secretary Priti Patel stating that it was critical for combating antisemitism in the UK.

Human rights groups criticized Johnson's friendly relations with the Persian Gulf states, particularly his government's continued support for the Saudi-led coalition's assault on Yemen.

The UK mainly sold billions of pounds of arms to the coalition while the war turned Yemen into the world's worst humanitarian calamity, according to the UN.

Johnson arrived in Saudi Arabia on the same day that the kingdom murdered more than 80 inmates on his final tour to the region before announcing his retirement.

"It is not acceptable to use Russia's war crimes to justify trading blood for oil somewhere else," Reprieve head Maya Foa stated at the time.

Truss is regarded as Johnson's foreign policy heir. Many prominent Conservatives who aspired to become foreign secretary argue that Cleverly's nomination is "planned so that Liz can stay foreign secretary while based in No. 10 (Downing Street)," implying that the new prime minister prefers to make decisions for herself.

Cleverly is viewed as a "safe pair of hands" by British political experts when it comes to foreign policy matters, therefore the notion is valid. If true, it implies the continuance of a farcical show of foreign policy in the region, as well as a carbon-copying U.S.

In a report published in 2017, the British parliament called for re-evaluating London’s West Asia foreign policy.

“The House of Lords International Relations Committee today publishes a report which calls for a major re-shaping of UK policy in the Middle East and questions some of the assumptions and attitudes which have underlain both UK and Western policy for more than a century,” the report said.

“Pointing to the current uncertainties of American Middle East policy, to its ‘mercurial' approach to the region and to the decline in U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern energy sources – and also to the fragmentation of power and the violence of conflicts that have devastated the area – the Report urges fresh thinking from the UK on how it relates to this new Middle East of instability and turmoil. It observes that the outcomes of the Arab Spring mostly disappointed, and in some instances surprised and wrong-footed the world and the policy-shapers, in the UK as elsewhere,” it continued.

In its suggestions, the parliament said, “There can no longer be automatic reliance on American leadership, or the direction of its policy, in the Middle East region.”

“The UK may find its stance diverging increasingly from Washington on vital issues such as the Israel-Palestine two-state solution and the importance of the Iran nuclear deal, which the report analyses in detail,” it continued. 

“The UK should work on a rapprochement with Iran despite US policy. The UK should work with European partners to ensure the stability of the Iran nuclear deal even if this is in opposition to the US. The UK and its European partners should consider active measures to ease restrictions on banks lending money for investment in Iran to help develop new trade relationships. Without this a strategic opportunity will be lost as Iran looks instead to China and Russia,” the committee suggested.

The report was issued during Johnson's tenure as Foreign Secretary. However, his decision to disregard these ideas and follow in the footsteps of the United States demonstrates that there will be no real shift in the United Kingdom's actions in West Asia.