“An unfocused approach to foreign policy leads to, and is often devised in pursuit of, media grandstanding.”He said leaders should know what they could achieve from intervening in foreign trouble-spots, what practical means were at their disposal and whether they were best placed to broker a breakthrough.”Without clarity on these points, the correct conclusion may be to stay at home, Mr Duncan Smith said. “So much of today’s designer diplomacy demonstrates a worrying lack of realism.”The Tory leader contrasted the Prime Minister’s willingness to commit British troops abroad with the shrinking size of the armed forces. “We cannot hope to do more in the world and yet spend less on it. That’s called facing up to reality,” he said.His attack was denounced last night. Mr Blair, who said he was “astonished” at the remarks, retorted: “Since 11 September it has become absolutely obvious to everybody that events in one part of the world can dramatically affect events in another part of the world. I think it’s not just right, but essential, Britain plays its role on the international stage.”The Labour chairman, Charles Clarke, said: “Iain Duncan Smith has come out in his true Thatcherite colours …

It’s a sentiment which is out of time and utterly fails to meet this country’s national interest and the serious challenges facing the modern world.”The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, said: “A Tory government would increasingly isolate Britain and remain locked in a quasi-imperial past.”. A damning portrait of the macho male culture in the Labour Party that prevents female candidates being selected for winnable Commons seats has emerged in a new study. The society conducted extensive interviews with women rejected by Labour selection committees.Their allegations of sexual harassment, patronising comments and the corrupt use of postal votes will embarrass Labour’s Millbank headquarters, which outlined plans yesterday to boost the number of female and ethnic-minority candidates in its heartlands at the next election. Labour will ask local parties in Scotland, Wales and the North-east to volunteer to select female candidates. If there is a poor response, Labour HQ will impose all-female shortlists to ensure more women become MPs at the next election.Charles Clarke, the Labour chairman, admitted Labour also needed to ensure it had more black candidates but ruled out quotas or “all-black” shortlists. He said: “We have done significantly better than other parties but to be frank we represent more areas of the country where ethnic minorities live and therefore there is a particular responsibility to put that right.”According to the Fawcett Society report, one woman was told by a member of a Labour selection committee: “We do enjoy watching you speak, we always imagine what your knickers are like. We picture you in your underwear when you are speaking.” Two potential female candidates were told: “Your children are better off with you at home.”When another hopeful suggested she might attend a regional women’s conference, she was told: “You don’t want to go down there: they are all lesbians.” Many women complained about a bias towards male candidates among the trade unions.

“All the unions had their top, number one candidate – they weren’t women,” one woman reported.According to the report, to be published this spring, these “favoured sons” were given special help, such as early access to constituency membership lists so they could contact members before rival candidates. Some of these men had worked for the party or No 10.The favoured sons also had financial help, especially from the unions. “Some people will be spending £800 on a glossy leaflet, whereas I would be spending £11 printing it myself … you automatically preclude those mothers who are at home, who just don’t have the money to pay for the child care, the petrol, the stationery, the £500 in stamps …