foreign relations FOR A CONSERVATIVE means you do not support the creation of empires nor allow your nation to become one.
You may fool yourself with the conservative tag, but only yourself.
You're not a very good student of history, Pericles. Where did you get the notion that conservative = No empire? Do you recall what the original 13 colonies did to the North American continent? They went out and conquered the part they didn't already own (attacking Mexico and numerous Indian tribes in the process) France, Spain and Mexico sold chunks of land for a pittance rather than have it taken forcibly for nothing. The US soon created a sphere of influence in the part of the world where there could be a regional threat (ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine, circa 1820?).
It is actually the essence of conservatism to create and defend an empire. Ask Winston Churchill. It is liberalism to dismantle one (ask the post-war Labor party), and it is folly and pacifism to refuse to take charge in some fashion of nations from which you are threatened with mass destruction. As we all know from George Orwell, refusal to act in the face of such threats is objectively to favor the other side.