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Debate on the Address

My Lords, the gracious Speech refers to governance and democratic issues in this country which need to be debated. I welcome that. But it is noticeable that the gracious Speech does not refer to the encouragement of democracy abroad. I want to address a few remarks to that issue because I think that it needs a more consistent and coherent approach. With this and previous United States Administrations, you tend to see a lack of consistency, a swinging from on the one hand idealism, sometimes involving the imposition of democracy, to, on the other hand, realism, which very often means supporting autocracy. There was of course that famous conversation between Nasser and Nehru, in which Nasser boasted to Nehru: "““I put my extremists in prison. What do you do with yours?””." To which Nehru replied: "““Actually, I put mine in Parliament””." There is a lot to that view. If you look at the history of India you see how well it has developed its democratic system and how robust it is, whereas in Egypt it is fragile. However, if you do put extremists in Parliament, you want to be sure that they accept the rules of democracy, for, as I think the late Lord Hailsham once said, those who have tried to create heaven on Earth very often end up by creating hell on Earth. The United Kingdom, it seems to me, is well equipped to play a constructive role and is well positioned in two areas in particular. One is the Commonwealth and the other is in the Gulf countries. I support the noble Lord, Lord Howell, who has not had enough support today, on his remarks about the Commonwealth. I agree with everything he said with the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in two or three weeks’ time in Uganda. Here is an ideal forum, however difficult it is to handle, that is a cross-representation of the globe in every sense, from culture to religion to regions, to play a constructive role as an equal partner in tackling the many global issues that affect all members of the Commonwealth. One aspect of that is democracy and good governance. After all, the Commonwealth is committed—however well or badly its members live up to it—to promoting fundamental political values: democracy, good governance, the rule of law, representative institutions and a plural society. From the Singapore meeting in 1971 to Harare, of all places, in 1991 to South Africa in 1999, that has been reinforced. As we know, the Commonwealth is active in this. As the noble Lord, Lord Ahmed, said just now, it is active through the Ministerial Action Group in monitoring countries, in providing good offices to reconcile internal differences in countries, in observing elections, in supporting institutional development. I remain a very strong admirer of the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. It needs more resources to fulfil its objectives of promoting democratic evolution. Technical assistance is also provided by the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Foundation, of which I was privileged to be chairman for five years in the 1990s, is tasked to help to develop civil societies and strengthen democracy. It will be chairing and organising, in Uganda just before the main meeting, the People’s Forum on how to realise people's potential. I hope that links will be established informally there with non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe. The test case will be how the Commonwealth deals, first, with Pakistan, as the noble Lord, Lord Ahmed, said, where, despite a not very strong record on democracy since independence, everything should be done to encourage constitutional evolution and to preserve the independence of the judiciary. The Commonwealth is well-placed to help in that. In Zimbabwe—in a different situation altogether, Mugabe having suspended Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth—the Commonwealth needs to stand ready to make it plain to the people that, once Mugabe goes, if they satisfy certain conditions on standards and democracy, they can re-enter the Commonwealth. I am glad that the President of Nigeria today is reported to have made strong criticisms of the present regime in Zimbabwe. The Commonwealth has a vital role to play. In addition, we have long traditions and links in the Gulf. It is a very volcanic area and we have seen what happened in Iraq, but I think that in the Gulf countries with which we had a protective relationship are the beginnings of some kind of evolution of constitutional monarchies, which ought to be encouraged, but each country in the Gulf has different circumstances. Over many decades, Kuwait has developed a constitution with quite a robust Parliament. Saudi Arabia is a more conservative society, but evolving gradually with local government developing. Here, I must stress that I think that dialogue is more important than boycotting. Then there is the United Arab Emirates, where a completely different situation exists: 80 per cent of the population are foreigners. Although it is an open society, it has no Parliament. We have to judge each country on its own merits according to its history, traditions, culture and our traditional friendship with it. I suggest that Turkey should be something of a model for those countries. Here is a secular constitution but an almost wholly Muslim society. Success in Turkey should be a source of encouragement to the countries of the Gulf. Lastly, in approaching these issues, we need clear criteria. We should not preach, patronise or impose on others. We tried that in the old days. It did not always work. We should share our experience with our friends, but as friends, and acknowledge their different cultures and traditions. After all, we have taken centuries to evolve our system. It is only recently in history that women got the vote. We are all aware today that our parliamentary system and our media are pretty inadequate and need improvement, so we need a humble approach. We should be consistent in our approach and not swing between trying to impose democracy and back again. It is important to accept that there is no standard solution or template for all countries: each must be judged on its own merits. It is that approach, the approach of encouraging evolution rather than revolution, on which we should be consistent and through which we can make a contribution.