Niccolò Machiavelli, that Florentine sage of power’s dark arts, would survey David Lammy’s 2025 tenure as Britain’s Foreign Secretary and proclaim it a carnival of blunders. In The Prince and Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli championed virtù—the cunning to master fortune—yet Lammy’s “progressive realism” is a clumsy jest, blending idealism with ineptitude. His ventures in Syria, Europe, Azerbaijan, and America reveal a diplomat bereft of guile, courting ruin for Britain’s fading prestige.
Lammy’s Syrian policy is a masterclass in folly. In 2025, he pledges £94.5 million to a post-Assad regime led by former extremists, trusting coin will buy stability. Machiavelli, who warned that men are “ungrateful, fickle, false,” would sneer at such naivety. This largesse risks arming warlords, as factions vie for power. The outcome, per Machiavelli’s grim logic, is chaos: Syria’s new rulers, fattened by British gold, may birth a despotism, leaving London’s generosity a mocking echo.
The EU reset fares no better. Lammy seeks a security pact to heal Brexit’s wounds, wooing Germany, Poland, and Sweden with earnest pleas. But Britain’s weakened economy—outshone by China’s—makes him a beggar, not a broker. In Discourses, Machiavelli demanded strength in alliances; Lammy’s supplication invites exploitation. Europe, sensing Britain’s decline, will demand concessions while granting little, chaining London to continental whims.
Lammy’s Azerbaijan misstep is a diplomatic disaster. Calling Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh offensive a “liberation” ignores the flight of 100,000 Armenians, sparking cries of hypocrisy. In The Prince, Machiavelli prized reputation as statecraft’s coin; Lammy squanders it, eroding Britain’s soft power. The Global South, wary of Western doublespeak, may turn to rivals, leaving Britain isolated.
Courting Trump’s America seals Lammy’s folly. Once decrying Trump as a menace, he now grins through Kyiv summits, silent on tariff threats and erratic rhetoric. Machiavelli urged flattery to secure ends, not subservience. Trump, sensing weakness, will sideline UK interests, rendering Britain a pawn.
“A prince must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.” — The Prince
Machiavelli’s verdict is stark: Lammy’s diplomacy is a jester’s dance, neither progressive nor realist. His Syrian aid breeds chaos, his EU overtures invite servitude, his Azerbaijan gaffe costs prestige, and his American fawning yields irrelevance. Feniks Know Best readers, what is your verdict? Does Lammy’s statecraft herald Britain’s revival or its ridicule? Weigh in below—parchment preferred, pixels tolerated.