No more ethical foreign policy?

"Don't do as I do, do as I say" is unlikely to work as a basis for a successful foreign policy. From today's FT:

Britain’s strictures to foreign governments are being mocked from Iran to the Turks and Caicos Islands, as world leaders seize on stories about MPs’ bloated expenses claims as evidence of moral decay in the UK.

Accounts of MPs billing the taxpayer for duck houses and moat cleaning have been lapped up around the world and have posed a problem for British diplomats who have previously been vocal in criticising corruption.

Mark Malloch-Brown, the foreign office minister, deleted sections of a speech he gave in Mozambique this month, fearing that his comments on higher standards of governance might be greeted with scorn. His fears may have been justified, judging by the apparent delight being shown by leaders in recent days over the Westminster expenses scandal.