Downing Street and the importance of foreign languages

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Downing Street website is being launched in a foreign language. What language is the website being launched in? One of the European languages? Maybe French, the language of diplomacy? Maybe German, the second or third language of much of Eastern Europe? Spanish, the language of much of South America and indeed now much of North America? Japanese, the language of much of international banking? Chinese, the language of the most populous nation on the planet and an increasingly powerful international player? No, the language chosen is Arabic.

A spokesman for Number 10 said "We want to be as accessible as we can to people across the world and this is an important step forward in our efforts to do that." An odd choice of first language, or maybe not as Tony Blair forlornly tries to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world.