Cameron cautions on future conflicts

David Cameron has said that the Conservatives would put domestic security before foreign policy concerns.

In what has been seen as a coded critique of the intellectual basis behind the Iraq war, the Tory leader pledged to rethink the government's priorities in a speech in Berlin.

At a conference on international security issues Cameron outlined two principles - that "any state must put its own national security first" and "that we should replace the doctrine of liberal interventionism… with the doctrine of liberal conservatism".

While stressing his continued support for the military operation in Iraq, he said that Britain should replace Tony Blair's interventionism with a "sceptical attitude towards the ability of states to create utopias".

Whereas former the prime minister argued that the war was necessary to prevent future terrorist attacks on the West, Cameron claimed that "the people who let off bombs on London's public transport system were not agents of Saddam Hussein, they were British citizens".

He acknowledged that his principles "represent a change... from the approach of the recent past – certainly in the UK".

"Every good military commander understands that no campaign will succeed unless you secure your home base first," he argued.

"Only from a position of security at home can states confidently promote security abroad."

On interventionism he added that Blair and George W Bush were guided by the right impulses in Iraq and Afghanistan but were over-ambitious.

"My judgment is that in the face of the new challenges we jointly face in the 21st century, the immediate response of some, the approach that has become known as liberal interventionism - the idea that we should just get out there into the world and 'sort it all out'  - was the right impulse; was morally correct, but failed to strike the right balance between realism and idealism," he said.

"I think the right balance can be found in what I believe in: liberal conservatism. Liberal – because I believe civil rights, democracy, pluralism and the rule of law are the source of progress and a key component of lasting security.

"But conservative too: because I recognize the complexities of human nature, am sceptical of grand utopian schemes to remake the world, and understand that you have to be hard-headed and practical in the pursuit of your values."

Cameron explained that this would involve the reform of international institutions to ensure and reward good governance, but also tough sanctions against rogue states, such as Iran.