Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Yes; these matters are yet to be decided, but the recommendation is that he or she should be independent. I do not agree with the noble Lord that this is make or break; there are huge forces at work which are creating demand for the kind of network which the Commonwealth produces today, both at governmental and non-governmental level, and that will go ahead regardless of what final decisions are taken between Governments. When we are dealing with a global network of this kind, Governments cannot always decide everything by their own writ, so the great forces at work mean that the Commonwealth is a very necessary network for the 21st century. I would even go as far as to say that if it did not exist it would have to be invented. I have already acknowledged that there are funding implications; we will look at these carefully. Not everything is solved by more and more secretariats and central organisation, as we well know from our European Union experience, but funds will certainly be needed to make this whole programme go forward successfully.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Will the Minister accept from me first-hand, as I have just come back from Australia, that it is very much looking forward to the meeting, largely because its people all love the Queen very much, and her role as Head of the Commonwealth is particularly important? I did not meet anyone who was so excited about the Minister’s own visit.

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

My noble friend is absolutely right that the position of Her Majesty at the Head of the Commonwealth is an immensely valuable binding force and, in the dark days of the past when the Commonwealth was grossly undervalued and its potential ignored, it was Her Majesty who kept the lights burning for the Commonwealth. Of course, Australia sees this as a huge opportunity to assert its rising role in the world and its key position in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which are becoming the centres of great consumer markets of the future and the centres of our future prosperity.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

I congratulate my noble friend Lady Hooper and I also congratulate the CPA on the centenary. I have been fortunate to go to quite a number of CPA conferences and to make bilateral visits to Malaysia, the Bahamas, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Australia, just to name a few. We were in Australia at the time of the Bali bombing and it was a privilege to be in the national Parliament to hear the then Prime Minister John Howard speak about what had happened.

On the same visit we also went to Parkes, the place of my birth in that largest island of the world, where we had the best barbequed steak that we had anywhere in the whole of Australia. When I came to this country I think that my passport said I was an Australian citizen but it certainly said that I was a British subject. That terminology has changed completely. When I had tea in the Lords Dining Room—I have been in this House for 30 years now—a colleague said, “Oh, it’s rather nice to have a colonial in the House”. Commonwealth people gave up that colonial tag a long time ago. He was not a young man but it was an interesting facet.

What has impressed me so much about the CPA is how well it works on what I would call not just an all-party but an almost cross-party-and-no-party system. Wherever we have been in the world we have all worked together and no party issues have ever come up. It has been much bigger than that, which is a very important point. I also went through the Commonwealth Secretariat as an observer to the first elections in the Seychelles after many years. That again was something that we felt was useful. I was in Kenya on Remembrance Sunday one year and saw all those wonderful, large, very black men with their umbrellas standing in the blazing sun on 11 November. That reminds me of the great contribution that the Commonwealth has made to this country. It has made a major contribution in both World Wars and in all other times and will continue to do so. There is great fellow feeling within the Commonwealth.

I am still in the position of having my domicile of origin which happens to be Australia. We almost lost the right for Commonwealth citizens to sit in this House. That would have been a tragedy because, although it affected me personally, it is a very much bigger issue. When I last wanted to speak in a Commonwealth debate in June 2009, I rang the Clerk of the Parliaments, asking, “Could you tell me what Act I am sitting under now because I always like to quote that when speaking on Commonwealth issues?”. There was a long pause and he said, “We are sorry but there seems to be a bit of an unforeseen mistake. We are not sure that you are meant to be here at all now”. I said, “What do you mean?”. He said, “Well, you did sit under the 1981 Act”, and I said yes that that was the one I quoted. He continued, “When they renewed that Act in 2006 the Government made a mistake and covered the Commonwealth in the House of Commons but failed to cover it in the House of Lords”.

My speech on that occasion was a bit of a bombshell when I brought this out in the Chamber. The noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, who was answering, said that the Government guaranteed that it was a pure oversight and would put it right before the general election. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, which is enacted now, was very late in coming to us and arrived on the last day of the previous Parliament. It was very controversial and various people said how ridiculous it was that we would be asked to put this all through on the same day and that we could not possibly do it as it would take weeks of deliberation. The noble Lord, Lord Bach, waved to me to come outside and said, “You have got to say something”. I said that it had been suggested to me not to say anything, but he said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to interfere with other people’s views but I think you should say something”, so I did.

Various other people made points but the most effective was the one from the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong, who said that some parts of the Bill were good and we should allow them through and not the rest. He quoted the Civil Service and said, “It might be only 90 per cent right, but at least that is 90 or even 80 per cent more than we have ever had, and we have waited 40 years for that, so can’t we have it?”. Various other people hopped up and then I got up and said my little bit about not even getting a Writ of Summons for Parliament unless the legislation went through. I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Bach, and to the then Lord Chancellor who spent most of that afternoon in this House working on an all-party basis to try to get agreement on which bits of the Bill would go through and become the reformed Act. Fortunately, at the last minute on the last day of that last Parliament it went through.

That is very important in terms of the Commonwealth because Commonwealth people are amazed when they hear that a member of the Commonwealth who is not an English person or a British citizen can be a Member of this House—as also southern Ireland. I heard someone mention southern Ireland. Perhaps this is another indication that southern Ireland may well become part of the Commonwealth.

France: Bilateral Defence Co-operation

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I am sorry to hear the noble Lord’s comments on the French policy on record at the time. It is not for me to defend or to elaborate on France’s policy. All I can say in the present situation is that we are working in very close co-operation with our French friends. We regard them as close friends, and certainly in relation to Tunis and the other problems in north Africa, we are finding excellent co-operation.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Does the Minister know that today the French ambassador in London is saying farewell after a very successful term of office here? Does he think that that was an important example of diplomatic relations, which we hope will continue?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Most certainly I do. He has been an excellent ambassador for his country.

Chagos Archipelago

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Tuesday 29th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The noble Lord is raising two separate issues. The proposal for a marine protected area is widely supported by many people and there are very few objections to the general concept from the Mauritians or anyone else. The Chagossians’ right of abode is a broader issue. I would like to say that certain views have been reached which may or may not be different from those of the previous Government, but today I cannot because the matter is under review. I will communicate with the noble Lord and other noble Lords when we have a view on this situation, with which many Members opposite are very familiar.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Can the Minister tell us—

[Baroness Whitaker]

My Lords—

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

I think we will hear from a Conservative Member first.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Is there any threat of rising sea levels endangering the possibility of people living on these islands, as there is in some Pacific islands where it may be disastrously affected?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I know of no specific threat in relation to resettlement. All sorts of other problems were studied in a feasibility study some years ago and the whole prospect of resettlement was found to be precarious. However, the particular issue of rising sea level is not one on which we have any detailed evidence.