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North Africa and the Near and Middle East

Yes, I certainly agree with that. What the report has highlighted about the Shi'a is particularly important. It showed that the idea that Iran was stirring up trouble and was behind the Shi'a elements in the protests was not backed up by any real evidence. That was another honest and important conclusion from the report. The test is, of course, what happens next. As Amnesty International has said, it is the ““speed, extent and seriousness”” of the Government's response that is the real test in this case. The right hon. Member for Cynon Valley rightly highlighted the case of medical workers who are still in custody of one kind or another, which is simply not acceptable. The Bahraini Government should tackle that issue as a matter of absolute priority. I am sure that Her Majesty's Government will enthusiastically support that kind of robust response to the report by the Bahraini Government, and I think they should also seek to reassure any nervous neighbours of Bahrain that as the ““Building Stability Overseas Strategy”” rightly points out, we are now looking at a new philosophy of security for countries such as Bahrain and others around the world, whereby security does not come from repression and control, but ultimately and in the long term from societies that are capable of peaceful change, in which human rights and the rule of law are respected. From Somalia to Syria, from Mauritania to Iran, that commitment to peaceful change, human rights and the rule of law ought to be—and, I hope, will be—the hallmarks of British foreign policy.