Tories: engineering more jaw-jaw and less war-war
The Conservative Party will release details later today about its national security strategy
The strategy is not expected to spring any surprises except the budget of the Department for International Development will be used to help fund aid work by the army's Royal Engineers in locations unsafe for civilan contractors, such as construction sites for water dams in Afghanistan.
An increased role for the Foreign Office is also likely to provide strategic advice to prevent the UK getting involved in unaffordable armed conflicts.
Perhaps the most important element will be the recognition, advocated previously on numerous occasions by the Conservative's security adviser, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, that national security policy should embrace hitherto civilian matters, such as energy and food supply, as well the implications of fighting insurgents in Afghanistan on domestic terrorism.
