Interview: Liam Fox - Dealing with Iran, Syria and our trivia obsession

Iran weighs heavily in Fox’s thoughts. He is keen to acknowledge developments in the past month, such as the country’s president Hassan Rouhani’s phone call with Barack Obama, and Britain’s efforts towards re-establishing diplomatic relations with Iran.

“Some of the overtures that have been made by Iran are to be welcomed,” he says. “But it’s not simply a question of goodwill. Whoever the president is, what he says doesn’t matter. If the Supreme Leader doesn’t say it, it doesn’t count.

“What was significant last month was the fact that Rouhani spoke, and was backed up very quickly by the Supreme Leader. That indicated to me that it was orchestrated and a genuine move forward.”

These are certainly softer tones than Fox espoused in government, where he was seen as a “champion of Israel” and called for tougher action against Tehran. But he has not entirely shed his hawkish approach.

“We also have to be aware of the fact that the evidence suggests there is still an enrichment programme going on and that they are moving towards the ability to create a nuclear weapon,” he adds.

“I think of how many times we are told ‘sanctions never work’. Well, this is one occasion where sanctions are working. They are having a major impact on the economy of Iran and it shows that international solidarity can have an effect. We need to continue that pressure for as long as we believe there’s a nuclear enrichment programme continuing.

“There is nothing wrong with talking. Even if you are sitting down to detail your disagreements, that’s something that can be welcomed. How easy it will be to make any real progress is a totally different question.”

Fox remains committed to Israel’s defence, and says the turbulent Arab Spring has proved that those who previously claimed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the only destabilising factor in the Middle East were wrong. The need for a peaceful resolution to the intractable conflict should still be high on the agenda, Fox adds.

“It’s important from Israel’s point of view because the demographics are showing a big shift in internal influence. To get a two-state solution is increasingly to the advantage of both rather than one. A solution now would be hugely in Israel’s interest, because it would show Israel to be a stable partner in a very unstable region.”

He acknowledges that there are no easy answers to the Syrian civil war that has already raged for more than two years, and the prospect of the Assad regime surviving should not be dismissed.

“I’ve spoken to some of my counterparts in Israel and most of them seem to think the removal of the Assad regime would be to Israel’s benefit. I would caution against that view.

“I don’t see what advantage would be brought to Israel, the region or the wider world, by replacing a Russian and Iranian-backed Assad regime with a hardline al-Qaeda-sympathising, anti-West, anti-Israel regime. It’s an unpleasant outlook either way.”

Fox’s office, buried deep under the House of Commons, may be reminiscent of a bunker, but the former minister does not give the impression of having hunkered down.

His time on the backbenches, following years of cabinet and shadow cabinet experience, has perhaps softened Fox. He now takes a wider view of politics and seems eager to present himself as detached from the Westminster bubble.

“Politics today is obsessed with trivia, the short-term and celebrity, and spends too little time discussing deeper, strategic issues, which is what we should be doing,” he says. “We need to be focusing as politicians on bigger and wider issues.”

The North Somerset MP rejects the suggestion that elements of the book — particularly those dealing with the threat of dirty bombs, chemical warfare and lone-wolf terrorists — could terrify readers into thinking catastrophe is waiting round every high-street corner.

“It’s not a question of being alarmist. When I was a doctor and a patient was suffering from cancer, you didn’t not tell them because it would frighten them. It was your duty to tell them the truth. I think the same should apply in politics.

“If you are going to set out what the dangers are, you need to also set out its wider context, what you think the risks are and what could be done if you take a certain course to mitigate the risk.

“It’s little wonder that the public tune out of politics. They can hear about personality and trivia anywhere. In the modern world, there is no longer such a thing as ‘over there’. The era when you could simply look the other way and pretend the world’s problems were not your problems is not on anymore.”

Fox’s crosshairs are now also trained on the Guardian, following its publication of thousands of top-secret national security documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The former Defence Secretary raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, asking for a “full and transparent assessment” of the damage done to Britain by the revelations.

“I really was appalled by what the Guardian produced. According to the people who run our security services, it not only put the country’s security at risk but it put the lives of some of our security personnel at risk. I think it needs to be properly investigated.”

‘Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era’ is published by Heron Books. Hardback £20.