b'Table 72 Average price of flour, sugar and butter in the UK in penceAverage Price of Butter (per 250 g)197519851995200517528075Average Price of Sugar (per kg)197519851995200525486174Average Price of Flour (per 250 g)197519851995200523435763Source: ONSIf we fast-forwardto 2010, the Coalition UKprominence given to NATOwith the rest Government paid lip service to theof the world, the emerging markets, the Commonwealth, but actually neglected it.great booming economies and gigantic As Lord Howell, the former Minister for thenew cities of Asia, rising Africa, the Commonwealth in Camerons Government,Commonwealth network, the new wrote on receiving the FCOs annual report oftechniques of soft power promotion, and 2012-2013:much moreall trailing along behind.10(The FCO report confirms) everythingHas anything changed?that is feared, however unjustifiably, by the FCOits obsession with kowtowingLord Howell is a former cabinet minister; to America, its cringing and defensivealso, incidentally, George Osbornes father- position in the European Union visvisin-law. The current Minister of State is Paris and Berlin, its general assumptionLord Tariq Ahmad. The UKs relations with that the Atlantic West is at the centre ofthe Commonwealth are only part of Mr the world and its values, about whichAhmads responsibilities.11In addition to we apparently should lecture everybodythe Commonwealth, Mr Ahmad covers the else. you will see the topprioritygivenFar East and South East Asia, India, Nepal, to relations with, and a big genuflectionSri Lanka and The Maldives, Latin America to, the USA; the equally high priority(including the Dominican Republic, Haiti and to the European Union; the continuingCuba), the Falklands, Australasia and Pacific,160'