Lord Palmerston, 1850, asks the House of Commons to decide, "whether... a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong".
In 2003, Tristram Hunt asks: Where is our Palmerston? Three British citizens are shot by Israeli soldiers (two dead and one with brain damage), and the Foreign Office response is "pusillanimous". Two British citizens are held by the US without counsel or charges for 18 months, then subject to an illegal so-called military commission with a possible outcome of the death penalty, and the Foreign Office response is to have "issues" and ask for a "vigorous discussion".