British Council and the Integrated Review
John Baron Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con) [V]
I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the British Council and the integrated review. I thank Mr Speaker for granting the debate and the Minister for responding. I should declare my interest as chairman of the British Council all-party group.
The UK is often termed a soft power superpower, with recent research showing that the UK is presently the most attractive country in the G20. That is down to our country’s extensive and impressive assets of attraction and influence, which include world-renowned arts and cultural bodies, world-class universities and research—the Oxford-designed vaccine is saving lives in this country and worldwide—and our sporting prowess and ability to put on fine spectacles, such as the 2012 Olympics and, no doubt, the 2022 Commonwealth games, but it is also down to our respected national and international institutions.
I know that the Foreign Secretary and the Minister are aware that the British Council is one of those great institutions. Since the 1930s, it has been promoting British culture and the English language abroad, as well as facilitating cultural exchanges and building trust between the UK and other countries. Along with the BBC World Service, it is one of the jewels in the crown of British soft power, and few Departments do not directly benefit from its work. Indeed, research shows that participation in cultural relations activity with the British Council increases the proportion of people who say they trust the UK by more than a quarter—26%. Those who say they trust the UK are twice as likely to trade, visit, study or do business with our country than those who do not.
Soft power is usually defined as the art of persuading and attracting people to “want what you want”, but despite the consensual approach it requires, it is becoming an increasingly contested area. In order for the UK to retain its lead in this important arena, and in the competition for global influence, it is crucial that we act strategically and also strengthen our soft power assets and offering. The integrated review, which is due to report shortly, is considering all aspects of our international relations—foreign policy, defence, security and international development. As an ex-soldier with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, a regiment that Mr Speaker knows well, I fully appreciate the need for strong defence. Despite the recent welcome increases in the defence budget, I believe we need to spend even more in this uncertain world and certainly not reduce our infantry numbers, but proper financial support for our soft power assets is also vital. The Ministry of Defence agrees. It understands that:
“The best way to not get into a conflict is to avoid one in the first place by understanding each other’s issues”.—[Official Report, 1 February 2021; Vol. 688, c. 674.]
Those were the words of the Defence Secretary when I raised the issue of the British Council with him recently during Defence questions. War should always be the measure of last resort.
In our report of October 2020, the all-party group made clear our recommendation that there should be a soft power strategy at the heart of the integrated review, providing our assets of influence parity with other hard power assets, so that they are able to complement one another. The report also recommended that our soft power assets should continue to operate independently, as assets of influence are most effective when the engagement they deliver has a value for its own sake. Allowing these assets to act independently and authentically boosts their effectiveness—their efficacy; everyone knows that Russia Today and the Confucius Institutes are instruments of Russian and Chinese state power, and they lack effectiveness, value and credibility as a consequence. While alignment with Britain’s foreign policy objectives is essential, operationally, soft power assets such as the British Council should be free to develop and implement their own strategies, drawing on their skills, insight and expertise derived from decades of experience.
Inevitably, there is also a need to sustain and enhance our international engagement with appropriate funding. In recent years, the British Council has ensured its grant-in-aid funding from the Government stretches far, and has used the surplus from its commercial activities to support and maintain its activities abroad. Members may not be aware that in normal times the British Council receives only 15% of its income from the state, whereas its French, German and Japanese equivalents receive 48%, 62% and 65% respectively.
The coronavirus pandemic has been hard for the British Council, as almost all of its commercial activity, and its associated income, has understandably come to a halt and will not restart substantially for some time. As in other areas, it must be said that the Government have been supportive, and my understanding is that the British Council is now on firmer footing than was feared even a few months ago when insolvency was a very real risk. Nevertheless, I also understand that discussions are ongoing and that many options are on the table. Therefore, as the Government consider our international engagement in the integrated review, I urge them to think strategically about our soft power and take the long view rather than short-term decisions, which, in coming years, we may regret. In particular, the Government and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office especially should reflect on the fact that if the British Council ceases to have a presence in a given country, it is not only unlikely that a presence would be easily re-established, but that such a move also leaves space for other countries which will be sure to notice and fill the vacuum, and not all those countries may be friendly to our own.
I am confident that Members across the House, especially those active in the all-party group that I chair, will be deeply concerned by a decision to reduce the British Council’s network, which is a vital part of building the close long-term relationships in which the organisation specialises and from which the whole UK profoundly benefits. Furthermore, a retreat on the global stage is difficult to square with the Government’s ambitions for global Britain, and quite rightly so. Overall, I agree with the Defence Secretary’s assessment that there is not enough of the British Council around the world. I am sure that the Foreign Secretary and the Minister will also share that opinion, and I look forward to hearing their confirmation of this when the Minister responds to this address and debate.
Once again, I urge the Minister to do all he can to ensure that soft power is at the heart of the integrated review. In this year of UK leadership of the G7 and the COP26 environmental talks, the Government should enhance and capitalise on our soft power strengths to preserve our role as a global leader and broker on the world stage and fully realise the ambitions of global Britain.
Situation in the Gulf
John Baron Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Hunt
I commend the hon. Lady for staying in touch with the Iranian diaspora in this country, who remind us that at their heart many Iranians fundamentally do understand our values and want to find a way to accommodate Iran in the modern world. Iran is a great country and a great civilisation, and we ought to be able to find a way to resolve our differences. However, there is the particular issue at the heart of it—I discussed this with the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Nigel Dodds), the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Unionist party, just now—which is its support for destabilising activity across the middle east, which is already the most dangerous region in the world, and that is the thing we have to address if we are going to solve this.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Given that the risk of seizure was foreseen and that 95% of goods entering the UK do so by sea, does the Foreign Secretary agree that a Royal Navy of fewer than 20 ships is not up to the task and that we need to spend more on our defence, because no matter how capable a ship, it cannot be in more than one place at a time?
Mr Hunt
I might be straying slightly from my brief as Foreign Secretary, but it will not surprise my hon. Friend to know that I support increased spending on our armed forces. We have to recognise that we had in many ways a golden period after the fall of the Berlin wall, when there was a peace dividend and we were able to reduce defence spending, but now we have to recognise that there are increased dangers in the world, both in the middle east and because Russia has become much more aggressive. I think that the Navy in particular has become too small, so I hope that whoever the next Prime Minister is will reflect carefully on what we can do to bolster our great Royal Navy.
Oral Answers to Questions
John Baron Excerpts(5 years ago)
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Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Paul Masterton (East Renfrewshire) (Con)
Mark Field
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning that. We believe the UK is at the forefront of international efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance through a variety of UN agencies. We were instrumental in drafting a UN political declaration on AMR, agreed by no fewer than 193 member states at the General Assembly in September 2016.
Mr Baron
The British Council all-party group, which I chair, is conducting a wide-ranging inquiry into our future soft power relationship with our European partners. Does the Minister agree with our early finding that we could better co-ordinate our efforts, and will he meet the all-party group as part of our inquiry?
Mark Field
We have strengthened our diplomatic network, increased programme funding and produced bilateral strategies for each and every EU country, as I mentioned. I am happy to engage with the British Council APPG, which my hon. Friend so skilfully chairs—or at least, that is what it says here. [Laughter.] I am being a little unfair to my hon. Friend. He is a fantastic chair of the group, and of course I will co-operate with the inquiry in every way he wishes.
Mr Hunt
We have not implemented all elements of the Stockholm agreement—that is one reason why it has taken so long since the meeting on 13 December. The UN special envoy decided that the best way to break the logjam was to identify the most important part of it, which was the redeployment of troops from Hodeidah. Now that is happening, we will seek to implement the rest of the agreement as quickly as possible.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Will the Foreign Secretary update the House on what the Foreign Office is doing to help the British Council employee who was recently sentenced in Iran?
Iran Nuclear Deal
John Baron Excerpts(5 years ago)
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Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker. To ask the Government to make a statement on the status of the Iran nuclear deal.
The Minister for Asia and the Pacific (Mark Field)
The UK notes with great concern the statement made by Iran today concerning its commitments under the joint comprehensive plan of action. We are analysing the detail of it and are in close contact with the other parties to the deal. Today’s announcement from Tehran is, I have to say to the House, an unwelcome step. We urge Iran not to take further escalatory steps, and to stand by its commitments. We are not at this stage talking about re-imposing sanctions, but one has to remember that they were lifted in exchange for the nuclear restrictions as part of the JCPOA. Should Iran cease meeting its nuclear commitments, there would of course be consequences, but so long as Iran keeps to its commitments then so too will the United Kingdom. It is critical that we maintain an open dialogue with Iran, and we intend to do so: for example, the Foreign Office’s political director is visiting Tehran this week to discuss this and a range of bilateral issues. I myself hope to visit Iran in the coming months.
We recall our own firm commitments under the deal, including to lift sanctions for the benefit of the Iranian people. The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions is, of course, an essential part of the JCPOA. It aims to have a positive impact not only on trade and economic relations with Iran but, most importantly, on the lives of the many ordinary Iranian people who have had such a tough time over recent decades. We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the United States following its withdrawal from the JCPOA.
Along with the remaining participants of the JCPOA—Germany, France, Russia and China—we are committed to working on sanctions relief for Iran, together with third countries that are interested in supporting the JCPOA. We are determined to pursue efforts with European and other partners to enable the continuation of legitimate trade with Iran. The UK and our European partners met Iranian officials in Brussels only yesterday to discuss the next steps needed to operationalise the special purpose vehicle, INSTEX—instrument in support of trade exchanges—which aims to facilitate legitimate trade with Iran.
Even at this stage, we encourage all countries, including Russia and China as JCPOA participants, to make their very best efforts to pursue the sanctions relief that the agreement allows for through concrete steps. We take this opportunity to call on all parties that are not party to the JCPOA to refrain from taking any actions that would impede the ability of the remaining parties to fully perform their commitments.
Finally, it is important to remember that the UK remains very clear-eyed about Iran’s destabilising activity in other parts of the middle east—including its ballistic missile programme, which must now be addressed. However, we see that that can best be done through the JCPOA remaining in place.
Mr Baron
It is now a year since the US Government unilaterally withdrew from the joint comprehensive plan of action, better known as the Iranian nuclear deal. The Trump Administration have recently announced the forthcoming expansion of oil sanctions to all countries that buy oil from Iran, and have dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Gulf.
This morning, the Iranian Government announced that they are suspending key parts of the 2015 deal, citing the effect of US sanctions against their economy. Among other actions, Iran has stated that it will keep stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water rather than selling them on the international market, but it has threatened to resume production of enriched uranium in 60 days if the other signatories to the Iran deal—UK, France, China, Germany and Russia—do not plot a way forward to help the Iranian economy to withstand the effects of the US oil and financial sanctions.
It does not take me to remind the Minister that reaching the deal took broadly 10 years of diplomacy. At the time, it helped to avert a regional conflict; the House will remember how close the US, the UK and Israel came to military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2012. You will remember, Mr Speaker, that I led a Backbench Business debate on the issue at the time, in which I called for more diplomacy and less sabre-rattling. The House should also remember that the United Nations has made it clear that as far as it is concerned, Iran has abided by the deal—this is a unilateral action by the US.
I ask the Minister what else the Government can do to ensure the continuance of this important nuclear non-proliferation treaty, because whatever they are doing is clearly not succeeding at this point. I do not think that I am alone in believing that if the deal fails, there is a real chance of nuclear proliferation across the region. If that happened, I doubt whether there would be any winners in the conflict.
I will add one further point. Yes, we know that Iran is up to no good with some of its other activities in the region—terrorist activities and so forth. In diplomacy, however, going from imperfection to perfection in international relationships cannot be done in one bound; it is a series of small steps. The important thing is to head in the right direction. If the deal is allowed to fail, it will make for conflict in the region and possibly an escalation of nuclear capabilities. That would be bad news not just for the region, but for the world. The Foreign Office has to do more to use its diplomacy with regard to the US.
Mark Field
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the JCPOA is a cornerstone. It is critical for our security, not least because nuclear proliferation in that region of all regions would be calamitous. We therefore remain committed to it—as he rightly points out, it is the result of hard work over more than a decade of diplomacy. In the 18 years that we have been Members of Parliament, he has taken great interest in these matters; I very much respect his thoughtful contributions.
I ask my hon. Friend, and all hon. Members, to be assured that diplomacy continues. I very much hope to go to Tehran shortly, where we have an outstanding ambassador in Rob Macaire. As I pointed out earlier, we are working tirelessly on a mechanism to ensure that trade can continue, and that prosperity can therefore return to Iran; we were doing that in Brussels in the past 24 hours. Continued work is very much on our mind. We believe that the deal is broadly working, and is therefore delivering on its goal to ensure that Iran’s nuclear programme remains exclusively peaceful.
Oral Answers to Questions
John Baron Excerpts(6 years ago)
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Boris Johnson
I must respectfully tell the hon. Lady what I am sure she knows very well: this is a matter for the Home Office. We certainly alerted the Home Office to the issue, but the question of how to manage immigrants in this country is a matter for the Home Office.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Boris Johnson)
As the House will understand, the UK continues to work hard with all our friends and partners—particularly the other European signatories to the joint comprehensive plan of action—to keep that deal alive. We believe that it is of fundamental importance that Iran was not in breach of the JCPOA last week. It is still not in breach of the JCPOA this week. There are advantages to maintaining the essence of that deal, so we will continue to work for that and to protect the interests of UK business in Iran.
Mr Baron
Recent tensions between Israel and Iran underline the importance of the nuclear deal, and we should not forget how close the west and Iran came to conflict over the nuclear issue in 2012. The Government have rightly maintained their full support for the agreement, but exactly how far are they prepared to go, in concert with their allies, to keep this deal alive—including, if necessary, protecting companies that trade with Iran from American sanctions?
Boris Johnson
My hon. Friend brings a great deal of learning to this subject. This issue is difficult because of the extraterritorial effect of US sanctions; when companies touch the live wire of the American financial network, they find themselves almost immediately sanctioned. I am going to Brussels this afternoon to talk to our European friends about what we can do to work together to protect the interests of UK and other European businesses.
Iran Nuclear Deal
John Baron Excerpts(6 years ago)
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Boris Johnson
The right hon. Lady speaks a good deal of sense. It is a limitation that there is no agreement on the ballistic missile programme, or indeed on Iran’s wider behaviour in the region, but it would have been impossible to get an agreement on the nuclear dossier if those had been brought in. The United States thinks differently, and the President has a global vision of bringing these dossiers together and solving the problem as one. We have yet to see the detail on how he intends to do it, but we will certainly be as supportive as we can.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
We should not underestimate the importance of maintaining a positive direction of travel in the region, particularly given that it will take a series of steps to reach desired outcomes. Given that all the evidence suggests that Iran has adhered to the agreement, has the time come for the international community to act in concert in pursuing and maintaining this agreement, even if that means isolating the US for the time being, not just diplomatically but when it comes to sanctions against Iran, where possible?
Boris Johnson
I must say that, speaking as somebody who was born in New York, now I come to think of it, I see absolutely no advantage in isolating the United States, our closest and most important ally. Our job of work on the Government side of the House is to bring the United States back into agreement and to get a successor deal that the President wants to achieve.
Oral Answers to Questions
John Baron Excerpts(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir Alan Duncan
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for recognising the steps that we have taken, such as on microbeads. As for her main point, we are closely involved in negotiations to develop a UN treaty on marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdictions. As chair of the Commonwealth for the next two years, we will work with member states to create a Commonwealth blue charter. In the G7, we are working closely with Canada during its presidency to deliver our shared ambition to tackle the threats facing our oceans.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
The Minister for Asia and the Pacific (Mark Field)
I welcome the significant contribution made by the British Council to projecting British values overseas, which I regularly witness on my visits to Asia and the Pacific. My officials and I are in regular dialogue with the British Council across the globe to discuss the scope of its important work. We will continue to work with it to ensure compliance with our manifesto commitment to
“place… the British Council on a secure footing”.
Mark Field
The council has agreed to reduce its non-ODA grant from the Foreign Office to zero by the end of the spending review period in exchange for additional official development assistance funding. As part of our vision for a global Britain, we want a properly funded and effective council that projects British values right across the world. The council will continue to deliver activity in non-ODA countries through the income generated from other sources, such as its commercial income.
Iran
John Baron Excerpts(6 years, 7 months ago)
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Alistair Burt
I might be the wrong Minister to answer all the details of that question. I simply want to make it clear that I get no indication from my friends in the EU who have been connected with this agreement that any distinction is made between our relationship before the referendum and our relationship now or in the future in relation to these matters. We are firm colleagues and we will remain firm colleagues. This matter overrides those considerations, and I am absolutely sure that those strong friendships and the way in which we see the world will remain the same.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
I welcome the Government’s position. Does the Minister realise that what is important is the regime’s direction of travel, and that the moderates have the upper hand in Iran, in large part because of this deal? Will the Government therefore do what they can to encourage Congress not to make the wrong decision during the 60-day window? Otherwise, the implications for the rules-based international system will be obvious, not least to the North Koreans.
Alistair Burt
My hon. Friend is an experienced member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and he well understands some of the dynamics relating to Iran. Iran is a complex political society with different representatives and different voices, as I said earlier. It is clear that there are elements in Iran who saw the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—JCPOA—as an opportunity to open possibilities for the country on the wider stage, and who recognised that for those possibilities to be maximised, other behaviour had to be recognised and curtailed. There may be others in Iran who saw the agreement in a different light. The United Kingdom’s position is to believe that the signing of the agreement brought an opportunity to continue to work with those who wanted to see Iran return to the world stage. It will not be able to do that if it continues with disruptive activity in the regions, but adhering to this agreement has been very important. The Foreign Secretary has spoken to Foreign Minister Zarif twice in the past week—once before the President’s announcement and once after it—and I am sure that he made that clear to those elements who wish to see the JCPOA leading to something good for the future of the region.
Oral Answers to Questions
John Baron Excerpts(6 years, 10 months ago)
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Boris Johnson
I think that what the British public can take from both the Chancellor and myself—and, indeed, from the vast majority of Labour Members, as I understand their position—is that we all want to get on and do the deal, to do the best deal possible, and to leave the EU.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
What lessons does my right hon. Friend take from the Australian Government, who negotiated free trade deals with China, Japan and South Korea in very short order by focusing on trade itself rather than getting bogged down in disputes with regard to standards, legalities and regulations?
Boris Johnson
I agree very much with what my hon. Friend has said. I think that, with a bit of gumption and a bit of positive energy, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and we should get on and do it. Of course, we cannot ink in the free trade deals now, but we can certainly pencil in the outlines.
Oral Answers to Questions
John Baron Excerpts(7 years, 7 months ago)
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Boris Johnson
I have not yet seen the American chamber of commerce report because, by the right hon. Gentleman’s own account, it has not yet been published. I have no doubt that American companies, in common with all companies around the world outside the UK and the EU, will find the UK in future an even better place to invest in and to bring their corporations to, because of the natural advantages of time zone, language and skills that this country enjoys.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Given that the 170-odd countries outside the EU successfully trade with it—some have trade deals and some do not—what does the Secretary of State have to say to those pessimists and remoaners who continue to believe that we, with the fifth largest economy in the world, cannot thrive outside the EU, particularly given his additional list of suggestions and the fact that business costs are relative and it costs a lot more to do business on the continent?
Boris Johnson
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I deprecate the terms “pessimists”, “gloomadon-poppers” and “remoaners”. We are all in this together and everybody wants to make a great success of Brexit. I have no doubt at all that this country will be able to do a fantastic deal with our friends and partners in the European Union, and simultaneously become even more attractive to investors from around the world, with a new series of stunning free trade agreements.