Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Lord Gove (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 1 November 2005 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Rafiq Hariri

Question: Does the Foreign Secretary recall that the Prime Minister entertained Syria's President Bashir al-Assad to tea in Downing street in December 2002? Does he regret that, on the same day, the Prime Minister wrote in the Financial Times that the president was determined to bring about ““real change”” in Syria, and that there were ““encouraging signs””? Does he recall that, at the time, Syrian military forces were occupying the Lebanon, and that Damascus was playing host to the headquarters of Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah? Does the Foreign Secretary now regret coddling that dictator when he was planning mayhem across the middle east, and will he commit himself to supporting the democratic forces that want to bring about change in Syria, instead of remaining mealy mouthed on the issue?

Answer: I think that I do recall the tea; I have a feeling I was there. As to the rightness of our Prime Minister's inviting the President of Syria to the United Kingdom, I say this: it was the correct thing to do, and I have no regrets about that decision. It was right to invite him to see whether it was possible to persuade what was then a relatively new regime to change its ways. If we had not sought to co-operate or to put out a hand of friendship to the new regime, it would, on that regime's subsequent behaviour, have been far more difficult to get the consensus that we were able to achieve in the Security Council yesterday. As to our being mealy mouthed, I suggest that the hon. Gentleman reads resolution 1636. He will see that its terms are anything but mealy mouthed and impose severe obligations on the Government of Syria in respect of the investigation into the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. It spells out, too, the consequences that will follow if they fail to co-operate.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 438 c716-7
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Foreign relations Syria Hariri, Rafik Inquiries Prime ministers UN resolutions Lebanon Assassination
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk