---

Debate on the Address

My Lords, this is as sombre an atmosphere as I can remember in any defence or foreign affairs debate in which I have had the privilege to take part. It is not difficult to understand why that is the case, when one looks at the present times. The noble Lord, Lord Patel, talked about the importance of hope. Hope is in pretty short supply in a number of areas, whether they are the nuclear problems of North Korea and Iran, Israel/Palestine, emerging energy supply conflicts, the issue of climate change leading to mass migration—people talk about that as if we might face it in 10 or 20 years, but I believe that it has already started and could lead to serious problems for us—or the overdue recognition of the threat of Islamic extremism. I shall criticise the Prime Minister for one or two of his remarks, but I agree with him that Islamic extremism took a generation to grow and that it will take a generation to defeat. That echoes the words of Eliza Manningham-Buller, the director-general of the Security Service. The situation is even more sombre when one considers that our capital city, where this debate is taking place, has now been identified by international observers as the city under arguably the greatest threat from terrorism. Against that background, I echo what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe of Aberavon, said about the need for the re-creation of a British foreign policy and the re-enlistment of the expertise, skills and abilities of our foreign service, which have been too neglected in our recent subservience, almost, to American leadership—not always in the right direction. On that, I welcome the evidence of a US reappraisal of its approach to these challenging international problems. Against that background, I wish to say a brief word on Iraq and Afghanistan. I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Ashdown, that preserving a unitary state in Iraq is vital if the chaos there is not to spread like a foul virus through the erratic and potentially unstable neighbouring countries in the Middle East. I was not in much doubt about that unity at the end of the day, but what my noble friend Lord Hurd said in his impressive speech about the flight of the middle classes and maybe of the professional classes makes me very worried as to whether Iraq will retain the basic core of nationalism that otherwise would hold it together. Turning to Afghanistan, I think that it was Colonel Wilkinson, an ex-SAS officer who is a national security adviser in Kabul to the Karzai Government, who said on the ““Today”” programme this morning that they were all aghast at how few troops we had sent into Helmand. The Minister said very clearly—I listened to his words carefully—that the Government always recognised that Helmand would be difficult. That was not entirely borne out by his Secretary of State, who came back from his visit to Afghanistan and said that he did not realise how tough it would be. That seemed to be an amazingly naive remark. I do not think that anybody with the slightest knowledge of British history would be in any doubt that any engagement in Afghanistan would be very tough indeed. What actually happened in Iraq and Afghanistan is that, after shock and awe and after a brilliant military campaign, the window of opportunity that opened up for a short period to achieve some real improvement in the condition of the people was lost. We forgot completely about Afghanistan for about three years and we are paying a heavy price for it. The Prime Minister said: "““We begin to win when we start fighting properly. I think we are now fighting properly, but we have to do more””." When the Minister winds up, I hope that he will tell me what on Earth the Prime Minister meant by that. That is not a remark that I would make to the members of 3 Para, who find themselves firing off 400,000 rounds of ammunition desperately trying to protect a lonely outpost from the Taliban. Something that worries me—it gives me the emotion of anger that my noble friend Lord Hurd referred to—is that I am not sure how much Ministers really understand the situation. The Prime Minister said that, when the first signs of real trouble in Helmand province come up, ““whatever they need they will get””. Did he not know about the shortage of helicopters? Did he not know that there was no strategic reserve that could be brought to bear or that there were no extra forces of any significance—that there were no adequate armoured vehicles although they were necessary? The Minister referred to them and they are now being arranged in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am in exactly the position of the noble Lord, Lord Hurd; we are inhibited. When our forces are out there in harm’s way but are unable to comment, they deserve our bipartisan support. It is no good just saying, ““We are in support of our Armed Forces; aren’t they wonderful?”” We must also ensure that we get valid criticisms lodged with the Government and that they are doing something about it. The Minister was careful to say that we should not use the word ““retreat”” and others have said that we are not in the business of cutting and running, which we certainly are not; our forces will do their damnedest—we know that they will play an outstanding part and that we will be very proud of them. I worry that we may be doing permanent damage to our Armed Forces. The Government did not create our Armed Forces, or the tradition of the finest army in the world that many of us admire. They are for the moment the trustees of that and they should look after and care for it. Let me illustrate what I mean. The issue is not simply whether the Army has the armaments. I accept that the Minister may not know about the following situation, but how would he feel if he were in this position? When some of our Armed Forces went out to Afghanistan, and their families moved into new accommodation, they found that it had not been looked after. A family—a wife with young children—going into a married quarter may find that there is no boiler or that it does not work. When she says, ““Can somebody fix it?”” she is told that there is no money to do so in the Army budget until next summer. That is what I mean about care. When Ministers make fine statements about how proud we are of our Armed Forces, they should not simply make facile statements; pride involves care and consideration. I am delighted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been out having worthy photo opportunities and showing his support for our Armed Forces. I hope that it was not just a photo opportunity; I hope that he is now going to take a real interest in our Armed Forces and not just make pious statements. He should ensure that they really get the resources they need in the appallingly difficult position in which we have put them; we depend on them so much.