Middle East and North Africa

Bob Stewart Excerpts
Thursday 13th October 2011

(12 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Bob Stewart Portrait Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)
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I lived for three years in Yemen, for three years in Bahrain and also in Jordan. I was always told not to make any comment about the Sunni or Shi’a branches of Islamic religion. May I ask the Foreign Secretary to ensure, as I am sure he is doing, that our diplomats are utterly bipartisan and as neutral as possible in this matter, because it has a knock-on effect elsewhere, for example, dare I say it, in trade?

Lord Hague of Richmond Portrait Mr Hague
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Yes, I assure my hon. Friend that our diplomats are religiously neutral about religion. We support the rights of minorities throughout the world, including the right to freedom of worship. In that, we do not differentiate religions and that should apply all over the world.