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Ireland and the Commonwealth

We spent many long evenings talking about many different issues. If only I had known about his interest in and passion for this subject, it would have saved us a huge number of other less riveting debates and conversations on which we were unable to find any great unanimity. My hon. Friend’s comments encourage me finally to get round to reading a book that I bought some time ago, an Attlee book. I think its proper title is ““Empire into Commonwealth””. My hon. Friend referred to Clem Attlee, and I shall undertake to read it over the summer recess. Whether it will make me less or more mediocre, I am uncertain, but I shall read that work of Attlee’s. My hon. Friend was right to refer to the fact that many Members owe some affection to Ireland. I remember growing up and thinking about whether I would play international football for Scotland or Ireland; I then realised that it was not an issue of nationality but a rank failure of any ability that meant that I was incapable of playing for either of those two great nations. I should start by formally putting on the record Her Majesty’s Government’s welcome to the new ambassador to the United Kingdom from Ireland, Mr. David Cooney, who started work yesterday, I believe. I look forward to meeting him and discussing the many different issues that commonly concern us. I offer my next observation with a sense of great trepidation. My notes say that I should say, first of all, that it is of course for the Government of Ireland to decide whether or not they wish to join the Commonwealth. That was a prophetically drafted first sentence. However, perhaps I could add an additional comfort for my hon. Friend that although it is not for the UK to invite a new member to the Commonwealth, as he implicitly acknowledged when he said that at one time it was Britain’s Commonwealth but that it is now a collection of states that share a common sense of values, the Prime Minister will discuss possible new membership criteria for the Commonwealth with his fellow heads of Government at the next CHOGM. That might offer some hope to my hon. Friend, although I understand that it does not capture the kind of thing that he is talking about. It is largely about whether there is consensus on the sort of membership criteria that allow countries without a constitutional link, such as Rwanda and others, to apply to join the Commonwealth. Let me set out some of the areas where we have close co-operation with Ireland while it remains outside the Commonwealth, and say a few more words about that. He is right that there was a degree of excitement and speculation about possible Irish membership of the Commonwealth after the recent visit by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to the Northern Ireland Assembly. I do not know whether the Irish Government intend to join the Commonwealth, or even whether they are considering that step. Nothing that I have seen or read suggests that to be the case. As he said, Ireland left the Commonwealth in the 1940s because it wanted to make a decisive break with Britain’s colonial past. India faced a similar choice but took an entirely different route. As a result, the modern Commonwealth was born. The UK understands the motivations of both countries in taking those decisions, but, now as then, they must themselves decide on their relationships with the Commonwealth. I hope today to show that, since that decision to leave in the 1940s, Ireland, the Commonwealth and the UK’s relationship with both have evolved and improved. The Commonwealth would find the Ireland of today not just prosperous but booming, with an economy and a culture that is the envy of many. That is clear to any of us who visit Ireland on official visits, although I have not had the opportunity to do so recently, or who go to Donegal, as many of us do and as I do in my annual holiday. Over the years, the transformation of that part of Ireland has been remarkable and is emblematic of the transformation that continues across Ireland. Equally Ireland, in its assessment of the Commonwealth, would share my hon. Friend’s perception that it has changed unrecognisably. It has come of age based on values, not on some historical relationship. Ireland would be unlikely to see any traces of colonialism and would instead see a modern, vibrant and international organisation, as he eloquently said. Many nations are keen to join the Commonwealth, because it brings together states because of who they are, not what they want. It spans divides of wealth and size, as he said, and its members share a cultural and emotional bond and strong people-to-people links. More than 80 Commonwealth organisations link groups of people such as nurses, young people, lawyers and many others. The Commonwealth gives all its members an equal voice and, as he alluded to, is a unique forum in which to be heard. It is a forum where Asia and Africa can meet and learn from each other, where small island states have as much influence as anyone else and where developed and developing countries and emerging powers such as India can find common ground. Its members span all five continents and are all committed to the democratic values set out in the Harare declaration. Tolerance, justice and democracy are the Commonwealth’s guiding principles, and it keeps to them, suspending members who fail to respect Commonwealth values. We have a unique relationship with Ireland, based on our shared history. Were it to happen, Irish membership of the Commonwealth would provide a new context for that relationship.