North Africa and the Middle East

John Baron Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Yes, I will absolutely respond to the right hon. Gentleman’s urging. As he well knows, there has been no shortage of effort on the part of this country to do that urging. That is why I went there myself last month and met not only the President but opposition groups and urged them all to be generous to each other in their dealings. I cannot say that our urging has yet been heeded, but we will continue it over the coming days, doing exactly as he says.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

With unrest spreading throughout the region and civilian casualties rising at the hands of autocratic leaders, what circumstances would need to exist, if any, for Britain to instigate or consider instigating a no-fly zone in other countries?

[Mr Hague]

I must again stress something that the Prime Minister has explained: just because we cannot do everything does not mean that we should not do something where there is a particularly grave situation that particularly offends our belief in human rights, especially the right to live. That has been the situation in Libya. Whatever we do in any other country, we will always be guided by the criteria we established before the passing of the UN resolution, which are that there must be a demonstrable need and a clear legal basis for any British involvement and that there must be strong support from within the region. The establishment of those principles has put us in a very strong position in relation to the crisis in Libya and those principles would guide us elsewhere.

European Union (Amendment) Act 2008

John Baron Excerpts

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

It would have been possible for the member states of the eurozone to have come to such an intergovernmental agreement, but they chose not to do so. In addition, a number of the other member states which have not joined the euro but aspire to do so and which have an obligation in their accession treaties to do so in due course would prefer any necessary treaty change to be agreed by 27 states, rather than dealt with on an intergovernmental basis alone.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

Given that this vote will have to be unanimous and we therefore have veto, is this not an ideal opportunity at least to try to extract concessions from the EU? We could take such an approach on, for example, the working time agreement, in line with the coalition agreement.

[Mr Lidington]

As I hope to demonstrate to my hon. Friend’s satisfaction later in my speech, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister secured an extremely good bargain for this country when he took part in the negotiations that produced this amendment. First, however, I wish to deal with the points raised by my hon. Friends the Members for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) and for Harwich and North Essex (Mr Jenkin).

This kind of motion has not been debated in this place before and should the European Union Bill, which this House agreed without Division on Third Reading last week, become law, we will not have this particular procedure here in the future. I want to give a firm assurance to the House that, in particular because of the provisions in that Bill, this evening is only the first opportunity for the House to have its say on the proposed treaty change; a second opportunity will be provided through the process of ratification.

I have to say to the House that the previous Government left this country with a system of both popular and parliamentary control over treaty change that was grossly inadequate. Under the inherited arrangements, this motion would have been all that was required by way of parliamentary approval, at least in terms of an affirmative resolution. If the European Union Bill were not to become law, a motion of this type leading to the adoption of a proposal for treaty change would, on ratification, still have to come back to Parliament and be laid before both Houses, but it would then be for Parliament to pray against the provision which had been laid before the House. Obviously the usual problems are involved in terms of what amounts to a negative resolution procedure in giving effect to an understandable desire for full and effective parliamentary scrutiny. However, as I have said, the Government, through the new legislation that we are taking through Parliament at the moment, want to provide a much stronger assurance for the future that this particular proposal and any others that might conceivably come forward will be given much greater and more rigorous parliamentary scrutiny.

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[Mr Baron]

Will my right hon. Friend return to the power of the veto that we have? I accept that the matter will come back to this place and that we will discuss it again, but surely we should now be trying to extract concessions in return for not using our veto. I ask him again, because he uncharacteristically did not address the point last time, whether we could be using our veto to extract concessions on the working time agreement—an aim that was, after all, in the coalition agreement.

[Mr Lidington]

On the working time directive, I completely share my hon. Friend’s objectives. Work is going on involving, in particular, my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and for Health. We judge that the appropriate time to seek to give effect to the objectives set out in the coalition programme for government will be when the Commission comes forward with its own proposals to change the terms of the working time directive, which we expect will be some time in the next 12 months. That is the moment that will give us the opportunity to do this. However those changes to the working time directive might be given effect, there will have to be a legislative procedure involving not only the Council of Ministers but the European Parliament. It is at that time that we will need to deal with the matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Baron Excerpts

Tuesday 15th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

The hon. Lady rightly draws attention to the fact that at present we should be looking at contingency plans right across the middle east and the Gulf, just in case. I can assure her that that work is going on. We all wish to see a stable middle east and north African region, but all the contingency plans are being reworked to make sure they are as effective as possible, and that applies as much to Saudi as it would to Bahrain, Yemen and all other points east.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

13. What recent steps he has taken to promote political reform in the countries of the middle east; and if he will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)]

Britain is ready to support the countries of the middle east in putting in place the building blocks for more open, plural and free societies. As part of our long-term approach, on 8 February in Tunis I announced the launch of the Arab partnership to support the reforms the countries of the region need for a stable and prosperous future. But reform must be home-grown; it cannot be imposed by outsiders, and leadership must come from within the countries concerned.

[Mr Baron]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for that answer, but I suggest that the provision of independent and accurate information has never been more important than in these uncertain times. Will the Government therefore revisit their decision that is forcing cuts on the BBC World Service, and particularly the BBC Arabic service? It is extremely short-sighted given that service’s excellent reputation in the region.

[Mr Hague]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that the BBC World Service, and in particular the Arabic service, will continue to play a very valuable role in the region: it will continue its 24-hour television channel, and its radio services will continue through FM relays as well as through shortwave services in the region. Those are a continuing and important part of the BBC World Service. Indeed, in the light of recent events, the BBC has already revisited some of its recent decisions that would have affected Arab nations.

Libya and the Middle East

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 7th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Of course, there are many telephone conversations going on. I myself speak to people on both sides of the divide in Libya, including to the Libyan Foreign Minister, Musa Kusa, who is still part of the Gaddafi regime. As there are British nationals still in Libya, it is important for us to be able to have a channel of communication directly with the Libyan regime, as well as with leading figures in the opposition. It is therefore no surprise that such telephone conversations are going on, particularly in the situation that we had over the weekend. The background to the mission is exactly as I described it earlier. I point out to the hon. Gentleman that, as I made clear in my statement, the mission ended up meeting the president of the national council of the opposition forces, and that is now the basis for further diplomatic contact with them.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

Apart from the irony of sending a British warship named after a pork sausage to rescue Brits from a Muslim country, is not the real lesson from this situation that we should stop meddling in other people’s affairs and be very careful before we lecture countries on democracy when we have armed their autocratic rulers with crowd-control weapons?

[Mr Hague]

I differ a little from my hon. Friend on that point. When we had to evacuate British nationals from Benghazi, it was important to send the nearest royal naval ship available, irrespective of its name. That is not the only vessel that has been involved. HMS York has also been there, and my hon. Friend will understand that I am particularly proud of that as a Yorkshireman. I hope he has no difficulty with that. Those ships have been there not to meddle in anybody else’s affairs, but primarily to take humanitarian aid and to evacuate our nationals and the nationals of many other countries out of harm’s way.

BBC World Service

John Baron Excerpts

Wednesday 26th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

There should be no question of that happening. We have well established procedures, over which the Home Secretary presides, to ensure that people do not go back to danger in their home countries. That is a separate issue, but if it comes up at all, and if there is any danger of those things happening, Ministers will want to make sure that they do not.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

To follow up on that point, the BBC is very concerned about the plight of the foreign-born journalists who work in this country who will now be made unemployed. Can the Foreign Secretary promise to work with the BBC and look sympathetically on those journalists who might have to return to countries on which they have reported critically?

[Mr Hague]

Yes, absolutely. To reiterate the answer I just gave to the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Mr Roy), we will look very sympathetically on that situation.

Kabul Conference

John Baron Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The hon. Gentleman has a completely different view on the subject, and that is understood and respected. He would not have got involved in Afghanistan in the first place—I realise that—and he has always called for an end to our involvement. I have a different view, and so, I think, do the majority of Members in the House, as well as the former Government and the coalition Government. We want to give the international strategy the necessary time and support to succeed. Yes, it is expensive; the cost runs to billions of pounds a year. More important than that, it is expensive in lives, as we know, but the alternative—failure in Afghanistan—would, we believe, be deeply damaging to the peace and security of the world. That is the choice that we have to make.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

Despite individuals’ opposition to our policy in Afghanistan, unity of purpose is important, going forward, if we are to achieve any sort of success in that country. Given the impression still being created by disparate voices in the coalition—including, most recently, by what President Karzai said on strategy—will the Foreign Secretary take the opportunity to confirm that what will ultimately decide the timetable for British withdrawal is the achievement of set objectives, not predetermined timelines? Otherwise, we are making things easier for the Taliban.

[Mr Hague]

I would not want my hon. Friend to be under the impression that the Prime Minister is not absolutely clear about what he and other Ministers have said about 2015—that we will not be there with combat troops, and will not be there in significant numbers, in five years’ time. I do not want to leave my hon. Friend with any impression that there is any doubt about that. However, that is on the basis of what has been said over the past year, and what we were all committed to at President Karzai’s inauguration, the London conference and the Kabul conference—the Afghan national security forces being able to lead their own operations by 2014. They are on track to do that. There is, of course, a little bit of leeway in what we have said, given that the target is for 2014, and we want to stick to that.

UK Policy on the Middle East

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

The first voice that I heard was that of my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron).

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

In congratulating my hon. Friend on his appointment, I refer him to the proverb, “To every man with a hammer, the problem always seems a nail.” Will he do what he can, and get his Department on board, to try to impress on the Israelis the fact that Hamas is more than just a terrorist organisation? It is an idea—a frustration—borne out of many disillusioned and disfranchised Palestinians, and the best way of defeating an idea is not by using force but by coming up with a better idea, such as an equitable, two-state solution.

[Alistair Burt]

My hon. Friend makes a point that almost immediately illustrates the complexity of the area. Whatever Hamas might be as an expression of a movement, it also represents a repressive, authoritarian force which has had a grip on Gaza for too long and held Gilad Shalit unfairly as a hostage for too long. In illustrating that point, I note the clear sense that there must be some movement in the middle east peace process, involving all parties and, inevitably, the slow steps towards progress which invite compromise. Of that, we wish to see more in the future. The Government’s position on dealing with Hamas remains the same as the previous Government’s, requiring as it does an adherence to Quartet principles before it can move. I do not see any change in that position.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alistair Burt]

This country has consistently asked Israel to join the non-proliferation treaty as a non-weapons-holding state. Israel was mentioned in the non-proliferation treaty review conference in the context of the desire to move the resolution on a middle east free of nuclear weapons and, indeed, weapons of mass destruction. The resolution looked forward to a conference in 2012 on the subject. The conference was a success in reaching the agreement that it did. It is good to have moved the process on a little further, but much is to be done before the conference is held. We all support a middle east that is secure for all its countries, and an understanding of its weaponry is clearly a key part of that.

[Mr Baron]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Alistair Burt]

No, my hon. Friend intervened earlier. I repeat that I am pressed for time, and I need to get my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) in before finishing.

Let me mention Yemen briefly. We are continuing to work with other middle east nations such as Egypt and Jordan actively to promote increased stability in Yemen, because we know that al-Qaeda looks to exploit instability where it can. In Yemen, that instability is caused by wider social and economic problems. We welcome the fact that the United Arab Emirates and Jordan are co-chairing the two working groups of the Friends of Yemen. For our part, we will continue our direct, bilateral assistance to the Government of Yemen, which aims to reduce poverty and build the capacity and capability of the Yemeni state.

We will also remain engaged in Iraq. In many respects, Iraq is a nation changed for the better. There have been significant improvements in security, the economy and politics. Iraqis now have control over their own destiny and have embraced democracy, voting in their millions in March’s national election. Now that the election result has been ratified, Iraq’s leaders must work together to form an inclusive and effective Government.

I am sure that the House is proud of the extraordinary role that the United Kingdom’s armed forces have played in making Iraq a better place. We are right to commit to building on their legacy by supporting the Iraqi Government and all the people of Iraq as they face the challenges of maintaining security and strengthening their new democracy. We will also work to deepen our close bilateral relationship to our mutual benefit.