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Queen's speech debate on Wednesday, 18 May 2005, in the House of Commons, led by Douglas Alexander. The answering member was Liam Fox.

Foreign Affairs and Defence

Queen's speech debate (second day) on foreign affairs and defence.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
434 c153-258 
Session
2005-06
Department
Ministry of Defence
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Procedure
Addresses to the Crown
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Peter Soulsby | 434 c183-6 (Link to this contribution) I should like to begin my first speech in the House with an apology to my hon. Friends. As the new M...
David TC Davies | 434 c198-200 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin). He obviously ha...
Show all contributions (160)
Linda Riordan | 434 c233-5 (Link to this contribution) I am proud to have been elected to serve as the Member for Halifax, which is my home town where I wa...
Dan Rogerson | 434 c213-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to make my maiden speech early in this Parliament, particularly in...
Sammy Wilson | 434 c219-23 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me at this stage. To use the term employed by the hon. ...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c183 (Link to this contribution) No, the right hon. and learned Gentleman is not rising now. [Hon. Members: ““He will be.””] I shall ...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 434 c191 (Link to this contribution) I think in that case we should have a referendum, although it would be a very serious problem and we...
Chris Bryant | 434 c191 (Link to this contribution) One other possible outcome is that the French say yes but the Dutch say no. Does the right hon. and ...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 434 c186-91 (Link to this contribution) I begin by welcoming the hon. Member for Leicester, South (Sir Peter Soulsby), and congratulating ...
Chris Bryant | 434 c193 (Link to this contribution) And it did not achieve very much. But I remember the right hon. and learned Gentleman arguing for pr...
Chris Bryant | 434 c192 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for giving way on this, because I sat on the s...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 434 c191-2 (Link to this contribution) I wish the Government well in finding allies from central and eastern Europe and Scandinavia to bloc...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 434 c193-4 (Link to this contribution) Well, I remember that the Committee was agreed that the powers of the House of Lords were largely sa...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 434 c196 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman made an intriguing reference to a preliminary decision having already been taken ...
Chris Mullin | 434 c194-6 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Kenneth Clarke) entertained the House with a chara...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c196 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman perhaps have in mind the reports that preliminary work had started at both A...
Chris Mullin | 434 c196 (Link to this contribution) I think that the Government’s position is that all options are still open, but there was some discus...
Chris Mullin | 434 c196-7 (Link to this contribution) I do, indeed, have in mind those reports, which have been in the public domain for some time. I als...
Chris Mullin | 434 c197-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, ““extraordinary rendition””. We ought to know a little more about extraordinary rendition and s...
Peter Luff | 434 c200-1 (Link to this contribution) I rise with both surprise and humility: surprise that there is not more competition from Labour Memb...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c176-8 (Link to this contribution) These occasions inevitably assume some of the characteristics of a tour d’horizon, but since we all ...
Patrick Mercer | 434 c178 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the right hon. and learned Gentleman with great interest. Like every other analyst...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c175-6 (Link to this contribution) My parliamentary neighbour is very kind, but I will have to deny her the pleasure of listening to me...
John Bercow | 434 c174 (Link to this contribution) I agree very much with what the hon. Gentleman said about the emerging consensus on trade policy; I ...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c174-5 (Link to this contribution) I am astonished and welcome the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. I agree that we will have to take on ...
Diane Abbott | 434 c173-4 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that while we welcome and support the personal commitment by the Prime Min...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c174 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend knows, I too am a member of the all-party Caribbean group, and the best years of m...
John Barrett | 434 c172 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman ask the Government also to commit themselves to establishing exactly how man...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c172-3 (Link to this contribution) I made that point earlier. I accept what the hon. Gentleman says. There must be some independent ver...
David Winnick | 434 c180 (Link to this contribution) In 1948, as a young person, I, like many others, took the view that the creation of Israel was justi...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c180-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I took different positions on Iraq, but I am happy to say that on this topic ...
John Bercow | 434 c181 (Link to this contribution) We agree that the United Nations should be an instrument of necessary change and not a symbol of pas...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c181-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. The Secretary-General, provoked or stimulated by the panel, produced wh...
Clare Short | 434 c179 (Link to this contribution) There was an option for securing the future of Iraq after the conflict—an international leadership u...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c179 (Link to this contribution) I wish that the right hon. Lady were right about that. Her intention is perfectly correct. However, ...
Clare Short | 434 c179 (Link to this contribution) A number of the Muslim countries that were approached made it clear that they would be willing to se...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c179-80 (Link to this contribution) I ask the right hon. Lady to consider this from her intimate knowledge of government and of our rela...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c178-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, who has some knowledge of military strategy, knows that an exit strategy is defi...
Liam Fox | 434 c165-7 (Link to this contribution) No, we should play our full role in developing a more flexible European Union that would be in Brita...
Liam Fox | 434 c165 (Link to this contribution) We are all allowed to have some progress in our views. For example:"““The EEC has pushed up prices e...
Wayne David | 434 c165 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the United Kingdom should have an associate membership status w...
Liam Fox | 434 c167 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for making a sensible point, but the Government have not put th...
Lord Bellingham | 434 c168 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to look carefully at arms sales to some African c...
Liam Fox | 434 c167 (Link to this contribution) An absolutely devastating point. It is typical of the Government that they take no responsibility fo...
Clare Short | 434 c167 (Link to this contribution) : I agree that the situation in Zimbabwe is devastating, with a lack of free elections, the suppress...
Liam Fox | 434 c164-5 (Link to this contribution) But the ban has not been lifted. The Government have changed their position on more than one occasio...
Chris Bryant | 434 c165 (Link to this contribution) I guess we get the hon. Gentleman’s drift that he is not very much in favour of the European Union. ...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c170 (Link to this contribution) I assume that it was you, Mr. Speaker, who arranged for international affairs to be the first subjec...
Clare Short | 434 c170-1 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the legitimacy of the present Government of Iraq is undermined by the...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c171 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point. The Government of Iraq are not seen to be representative of the entire populat...
David Winnick | 434 c171 (Link to this contribution) Although my hon. Friend and I differed sharply over the war, I too do not want British troops—or Ame...
Diane Abbott | 434 c171 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that Iraq was the foreign policy issue that was most frequently raised wit...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c171-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a valuable and correct point. The longer the troops stay when they are unwelcom...
Liam Fox | 434 c168 (Link to this contribution) I share my hon. Friend’s reservations. That appointment was typical of the Prime Minister, who, in a...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c168-9 (Link to this contribution) : Does the hon. Gentleman accept that it would be helpful in persuading Iran not to develop nuclear ...
Liam Fox | 434 c169-70 (Link to this contribution) I think that members of all parties in the House would agree that it would be beneficial—full stop—i...
John Bercow | 434 c160 (Link to this contribution) Given that rape as a weapon of war, compulsory relocation, forced labour, the use of child soldiers,...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c160 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to the long-standing commitment that the hon. Gentleman has shown to bringing an end t...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c158-9 (Link to this contribution) May I make a little progress? I will then give way to my right hon. Friend. The conflict between Is...
Clare Short | 434 c158 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Douglas Alexander | 434 c159-60 (Link to this contribution) The Government have been forthright in their condemnation of the illegal building of settlements by ...
Clare Short | 434 c159 (Link to this contribution) I think that we all agree that a just settlement on Israel-Palestine would transform the situation i...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c158 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has raised an important point. As I said, the British ambassador, David Moran, travel...
Andrew Mackinlay | 434 c158 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will have been briefed about my mention of the region in yesterday’s debate. I pointed ...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c158 (Link to this contribution) I will come to the point that my hon. Friend raised, if he will allow me to answer. The first requir...
Lord Beamish | 434 c164 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is talking absolute nonsense. Is it not a fact that even before the European Unio...
Richard Ottaway | 434 c160-1 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will be aware that he took this country to war against a dictatorship that turned out n...
Liam Fox | 434 c163-4 (Link to this contribution) I begin by saying how delighted I am to be back at the Dispatch Box again after my 18 months exile w...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c162-3 (Link to this contribution) I will certainly be happy to write to the hon. Gentleman in relation to the point that he raises. A...
Derek Conway | 434 c162 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has been generous to the House in giving way. While he is talking about the wider impac...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c162 (Link to this contribution) Not this time; I have been generous in giving way. We shall continue to help Iraq to develop more c...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c161-2 (Link to this contribution) We have met all our obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and we are engaged in imp...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c161 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Minister’s suggestion about a worldwide convention on the arms trade and arms dealing....
Douglas Alexander | 434 c161 (Link to this contribution) It is simply wrong to suggest that this Government are ignoring the challenge of Burma. This Governm...
Lord Bannside | 434 c155 (Link to this contribution) Surely it will be the people of this country who will decide whether the treaty is British or not, n...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c155 (Link to this contribution) I can certainly confirm that it is the Government’s policy to ratify the treaty that was signed by t...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c155 (Link to this contribution) I have been generous to the House, but I will give way again.
Douglas Alexander | 434 c153-4 (Link to this contribution) May I begin, on behalf of the Foreign Secretary, by extending his apologies to the House for his abs...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c154 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s remarks. Progress on the Lisbon agenda has not been as fast as we...
Keith Vaz | 434 c154 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment as Minister for Europe and welcome the fact t...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c155 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious that the right hon. Gentleman was a member of the Convention and has some expertise i...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 434 c154-5 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister confirm that the referendum on the European constitution will go ahead in any even...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c157-8 (Link to this contribution) I understand my hon. Friend’s point. I will simply say, having had an opportunity to see the transcr...
Peter Luff | 434 c156 (Link to this contribution) Have the Government have had second thoughts? Will they enable this national Parliament to express i...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c155-6 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the people of Gibraltar will have the opportunity to participate, which reflects the situation ...
Robert Key | 434 c155 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is indeed very generous. Will he confirm that the people of Gibraltar will be able to v...
David Winnick | 434 c157 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. Does he accept that there is a feeling th...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c157 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that important, grave and serious matter. I hoped to com...
David Winnick | 434 c157 (Link to this contribution) In respect of terrorism, what exactly is the position of the United Kingdom Government on what is ha...
Douglas Alexander | 434 c156-7 (Link to this contribution) The House will be aware that during the previous Parliament we introduced a Bill that dealt with bot...
Lord Randall of Uxbridge | 434 c231-3 (Link to this contribution) I bow to the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s wisdom, but it has to be said that the precedent was...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c231 (Link to this contribution) To characterise our position as saying that we wanted to bomb the hell out of Serbia is a grave inju...
Lord Randall of Uxbridge | 434 c230-1 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to participate in the debate, and I have heard some excellent speeches. In particular...
Robert Walter | 434 c227-30 (Link to this contribution) We have had a very good debate this afternoon. We have heard four excellent maiden speeches so far, ...
Michael Moore | 434 c224-7 (Link to this contribution) I have set out already, as the right hon. And learned Gentleman was listening very carefully, the fa...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c243-4 (Link to this contribution) We agreed on some things, which may come as a surprise, not least to those on the Labour Benches. Sh...
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c235-41 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs. Riordan) in what was an excellent...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c241-3 (Link to this contribution) I approach the Dispatch Box this evening with a combination of pleasure and humility. I feel pleasur...
John Bercow | 434 c207 (Link to this contribution) Surely at least part of the problem is that, whereas the public are generous, public policy is not. ...
Peter Luff | 434 c201-7 (Link to this contribution) It would be nice to have Sir Patrick Cormack back with us in a few weeks. The tests that we apply t...
Joan Ruddock | 434 c208-13 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff) has made a wide-ranging speech and I am tempted ...
Peter Luff | 434 c207-8 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the importance of the issue cited by my hon. Friend. India, for example, has a...
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c224 (Link to this contribution) I heard the hon. Gentleman say that his policy, or that of his party, was to have a target of a phas...
Patrick Mercer | 434 c215-9 (Link to this contribution) We have heard so far today three extremely capable and erudite maiden speeches. I can only look back...
Michael Moore | 434 c223-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), who has certainly e...
Chris Mullin | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) I want to avoid the situation that occurred in the latter days of Mr. Callaghan’s Government, when a...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) Not if it is up to my hon. Friend or me. Without going into specifics, I can tell him that we do not...
Chris Mullin | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give me an assurance that before any irreversible decisions are taken, pro...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has answered that question himself by raising the matter several times during today’s...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c248-9 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State will remember, as I do, endless debates provoked by the then Conservative Gov...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c249-50 (Link to this contribution) Let me say two things. First, the idea that a decision of that nature could be taken in all contexts...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the Secretary of State on his new appointment. He will no doubt have heard earlier co...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c248 (Link to this contribution) Our policy has not changed on either of those issues. Of course we would all like a world in which t...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c250 (Link to this contribution) I will, but then I must make progress.
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c244 (Link to this contribution) I ask this very seriously. Today there was a report in an American newspaper that the State Departme...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c244-5 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. and learned Gentleman may not be surprised to know that I have not seen that report, ...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c245 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Secretary of State for Defence will give way.
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c245 (Link to this contribution) I am surprisingly asked to give way, and I will.
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 434 c245 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Defence Secretary to his new position. He and I shared Opposition defence spokesmanshi...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c245-6 (Link to this contribution) With great respect to the right hon. and learned Gentleman—and I do have great respect for him—none ...
Liam Fox | 434 c246 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman said explicitly that troops would not be withdrawn from Iraq until the time...
Mike Gapes | 434 c247 (Link to this contribution) May I welcome my right hon. Friend to his new post? As he is new to it, may I ask him to study the r...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c246-7 (Link to this contribution) I am not aware of anybody suggesting that we should withdraw the United States forces from Iraq, thu...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c247-8 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of the report, but I cannot say that I have read it verbatim. However, on the advice of m...
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c256 (Link to this contribution) I am all for having an argument with the Secretary of State, but we must base it on accurate facts r...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c257 (Link to this contribution) The Conservatives said that they would make £1.8 billion of efficiency savings, but nobody believed ...
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c256 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c256 (Link to this contribution) Just a minute, I have not finished with the right hon. and learned Gentleman. I have one or two more...
Gerald Howarth | 434 c256 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to assure the Secretary of State that I shall not complain about his answering the qu...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c256 (Link to this contribution) It will come as no surprise that I do speak to the First Sea Lord—[Interruption.]—Alan West. Yes, I ...
Gerald Howarth | 434 c255 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c255 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, provided that he does not then complain from a sedentary posi...
Lord Beamish | 434 c255 (Link to this contribution) Is it not also correct that General Jackson has put in place and supports not only the arms plot but...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c255 (Link to this contribution) Both those points are true. I stand second to no one in my respect for General Jackson and the other...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c254 (Link to this contribution) In an ideal world we would have bigger and better—
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c254-5 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. and learned Gentleman is nodding at that statement, as if it verified the wisdom of h...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c250-4 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend helpfully shouts ““Hear, hear””, as he has to pore over papers on, among other ...
Marquess of Lothian | 434 c254 (Link to this contribution) Is the Secretary of State saying that the chiefs of staff agree with the number of men proposed at t...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c250 (Link to this contribution) It is kind of the Secretary of State to give way a second time. In the context of what we have said...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c255 (Link to this contribution) In the past 20 to 25 years, we have had two through-deck cruisers, which are smaller 20,000-tonne ai...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c258 (Link to this contribution) I assure my hon. Friend that we will respond to that helpful document within the time frame. In the...
Lord Beamish | 434 c257-8 (Link to this contribution) Although I accept that advances have been made in welfare provision, will the Secretary of State mak...
Chris Mullin | 434 c167 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is talking nonsense. Britain led the way in getting European sanctions against Zi...
Lord Reid of Cardowan | 434 c250 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend posits something that envisages a qualitative and quantifiable watershed between the ...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c171 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, we all condemn the attacks that are going on and the terrible tragedy of the loss of life...
Jeremy Corbyn | 434 c250 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Subjects
Armed forces Defence Constitutions European Union Iraq European Constitution Treaty Foreign policy Referendums Zimbabwe Middle East
Link
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