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Foreign Policy

My Lords, I have moved seamlessly from the Front Bench, because I do not want to disturb the protocol of the House when we have two excellent Front-Bench speakers. It is also a fact that, although I spent the first 10 years of my working life deeply involved in foreign policy, first as international secretary of the Labour Party and then as political secretary to Lord Callaghan, this is my first speech in a foreign affairs debate. I have occasionally dipped into European matters, but I hope that the House will treat me with its gentleness for a maiden speaker in this respect—not least because I find myself sandwiched between the noble Lords, Lord Anderson and Lord Hurd, two acknowledged experts in this field. First, the introduction to the debate by the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, was absolutely masterful. I agreed with almost every word; I suspect that we will both spend the early morning tomorrow thinking about where one or other of us has got it wrong. Seriously, it was a tremendous speech, spoiled a little by his over-confidence in Mr Hague. I want more than one judiciously selected quote from the noble Lord, Lord Howell, to convince me that Mr Hague is not a better biographer or after-dinner speaker than he would a Foreign Secretary make, but we will see. We were certainly greatly helped in setting the tone for this debate by that opening from the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford. As to predictions, the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, gave us a good gypsy’s warning. I remember 20 years ago discussing the future of Germany at a think-tank gathering in Berlin. We had just concluded that German unity was a 21st-century matter, when discussions were interrupted to tell us that the East Germans had opened Check-point Charlie and that we should all get in a taxi to go down and look at that move. As Harold Macmillan warned us many years ago, ““Events, dear boy, events”” can sometimes upset even the best futurology. Some contributions will be useful because they will give us an idea of where the political parties want to take us on foreign policy. As my noble friend Lord Wallace said, the New Statesman told us recently that Mr Miliband is working on a post-Blair foreign policy. As has already been said, if that means an end to the love affair with some of the wilder shores of American neo-conservatism on foreign policy objectives, it is greatly to be welcomed. Even more, I look forward to the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Howell. If we are, as opinion polls suggest, within 15 months of a Conservative Government, the country is entitled to know how the Conservatives will square the circle between the assurances frequently given in this House by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, and the noble Lord, Lord Howell, about their commitment to Europe, and the whole tone and body language of the Conservative approach to Europe. Last week, when I saw Mr Brown, Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy together in Berlin, I wondered what kind of gathering that would have been if a Conservative Prime Minister had been there, safely armed with a victory based on hostility to Europe. I say that with some experience. In 1974, I was adviser to a Labour Government who entered office committed to European policy crafted in response to short-term party-political needs. I worry that the Conservative Party will do exactly the same and be a disruptive force in Europe just when every bit of evidence and advice we get from friends around the world concerns the need for Europe to pull together and to be a proper partner. We frequently hear about expectations of the Obama Administration, but the message loud and clear from that Administration is the need for a united European partnership to meet the global challenge that we face. Recently, I went to a meeting of the All-Party China Group that a Chinese Minister attended. He gave the strong message that the visit of Secretary of State Clinton had been extremely successful and that China and America thought that they had the basis for co-operation in the face of the economic challenges facing the world. Speaking from the Chinese point of view, the Minister wanted a European partner in and a European dimension to that effort to join America and China. The noble Baroness, Lady Amos, will know about that from her experience. The noble Lord, Lord Howell, often prays in aid the Commonwealth. I am as strong a Commonwealth supporter as anyone, but if you talk to representatives of any Commonwealth country, they want to know these days not what Britain will do for them, but what Britain can influence Europe to do to meet their needs. I look forward to hearing the contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Howell. Perhaps I may say one more thing about the contribution of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe. I went to a presentation on Hong Kong the other day. It was only when I heard how the Hong Kong settlement was working in practice that I realised just what a triumph it was for his diplomacy. We now have in Hong Kong a world city that is prospering free, very much thanks to his effort. Although there will be many claims for his successes in his career, Hong Kong will be high on that list. As for my party, we are secure on the ground to which the right reverend Prelate referred. As liberal democracies, we must hold firm to some good, old-fashioned values. Torturing people is wrong. It is a measure of how far we have not come that 70 years ago, the bombing of a single Spanish town, Guernica, could provoke a masterpiece and world outrage, yet today, we can contemplate ““shock and awe”” as an instrument of war and look on Gaza as part of the Middle East tragedy. This country has great opportunities. I visited Syria as part of an IPU delegation. The Foreign Secretary has already been there. There are opportunities to involve Syria in the Middle East peace process. That should be continued. I have one other worry, which again brings us back to our European commitment. I worry about the fragility of east European democracies. If we are to hold them in the democratic family, they will need help and assistance from Europe. As always, this House contributes great wisdom. I hope that part of the Minister's duties after this debate will be to send a copy of Hansard to the Foreign Secretary.