The first two months of Gordon Brown’s premiership have brought a change of tone to the conduct of British foreign policy. The term ‘war on terror’ has been discarded, there is a new focus on winning ‘hearts and minds’, and Gordon Brown pulled off a successful first summit meeting with George Bush without praising the president or denying differences of view between the two governments.

While this change is welcome, the nature of the foreign policy challenges facing Britain over the next decade requires some substantive and not merely stylistic breaks with the recent past. Nowhere is this change more necessary than in Middle East policy, where Britain’s standing has been hugely damaged by the Iraq war and by the failure to condemn Israel’s military assault on Lebanon in July/August 2006.

The security and humanitarian situation in Iraq is horrific and the chances of avoiding a further escalation of violence there look very slim. A reinvigorated international effort to help do so requires a wider group of countries, particularly from the region, to come together behind a shared endeavour to help stabilise Iraq and promote national reconciliation. Brown should promote this idea and challenge the unwillingness of the Bush administration to engage seriously with either Damascus or Tehran over Iraq. On the issue of troop withdrawal, while Brown has rightly said that Britain will not ‘cut and run’, he has also hinted that the troops will not remain indefinitely or act as a cover for a failed US strategy elsewhere in the country.

Turning to Afghanistan, despite the election of President Karzai, warlords remain dominant in many parts of the country, and the Taliban constitute a serious and growing threat. Brown should continue to press for additional international troops to be deployed to the south, a greater development effort and more focus on human rights. But if the international community is not to fail in Afghanistan, Britain also needs to persuade the US to end its heavy-handed military approach, particularly its bombing campaign, which is causing large numbers of civilian casualties and aiding Taliban recruitment.

It is Iran, however, that may yet emerge as the single biggest foreign policy test for Brown. There is a real possibility that the US or Israel will launch military strikes against Iran in the next year or so, in an attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear capacity. While it would be extremely undesirable for Iran to acquire the bomb, military action would be most unlikely to succeed; it would strengthen Iran’s hardliners, provide a further stimulus to global Islamic radicalism and send oil prices through the roof. Brown should use every opportunity to persuade the US that a nuclear Iran is best avoided through creative and sustained diplomatic efforts. In the first instance that means getting the US to agree to unconditional talks with Iran (something it has refused to do since the revolution in 1979).

A new approach is also needed on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Hamas is now a central part of the Palestinian political scene. Stabilising Gaza and the West Bank, and creating a more cohesive Palestinian political entity that can negotiate credibly with the Israelis, requires a Palestinian national unity government. That means an end to international efforts to play off different Palestinian factions against each other, an immediate lifting of the economic boycott of both the West Bank and Gaza, renewed efforts to secure a comprehensive Palestinian/Israeli ceasefire and a halt to all Israeli settlement activity. Brown should actively support the Arab League initiative, which calls for full normalisation of relations with Israel in exchange for its full withdrawal from the occupied territories.

Darfur is another critical test for the Brown government. To his credit, together with the French, he helped secure a new UN resolution mandating the deployment of a UN/African Union hybrid force. But this time the resolution must be enforced. If Khartoum seeks to block deployment, Brown should press for the immediate imposition of financial sanctions, an assets freeze and a travel ban on key members of the Sudanese elite. Comparable energy should be applied in support of new negotiations in Tanzania aimed at reaching a common position among Darfur’s rebel groups.

Gordon Brown has been a central figure in the Labour government for over a decade, and a supporter of some of Blair’s most controversial foreign policy decisions, including Iraq. But his early actions on the global stage have demonstrated a seriousness of purpose and a willingness to think creatively. He has a window of opportunity to shift the focus and some of the priorities of British foreign policy. Restoring Britain’s rather battered global reputation and enhancing its global influence requires that he does so.