Sep 26 2007
Foreign Secretary Miliband does not galvanise on the Middle East
We might have expected some vim and vigour concerning the war against terror being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan by British forces, but that was sadly lacking yesterday.He gave us no sensible account of what has been achieved by the presence of our troops, why they are still fighting in Afghanistan and at risk in Iraq, what victory might look like and how long the mission may continue. He told us there could be no military solution but failed to explain how diplomacy was now going to succeed where presumably it has not so far.
More predictably, he refused to countenance a referendum on the EU on the basis that the EU had split the last government and was not going to split this one! Once again we see the government playing low politics with the big issue of how much power we give away to Brussels.
I don’t remember the last Conservative government being damaged by the Euroscepticism of some of its members. I do remember the government and the nation being damaged by being too European, participating in a currency scheme that did a lot of damage - one recommended by Mr Brown and by the Lib Dems.
Reading today’s press which is none too flattering about Mr Miliband. I would suggest to him he minds his back. The best way of doing that would be to take the nation more seriously, and give us a stronger analysis of where Britain’s interests lie and what our troops are being asked to do.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
The Labour front bench is full of mediocre ministers of whom Miliband must be the most overrated. How anyone considered him as a potential Prime Minister is beyond my comprehension.
Next week you and your colleagues will have the opportunity to highlight the difference in both competence and policies that you offer the electorate. If you don’t seize it you will let down not just yourselves but the whole country.
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Has it not always been the case that mandarins at the FCO believe that full membership of the EU allows the UK to ‘punch above its weight’ and so its no surprise that every Foreign Secretary in my memory has not done anything to weaken the UK’s position in the EU.
Reply: I think the real reason FCO officials and others like to surrender power to the EU is that it gives officials more power to change our laws without proper reference to Parliament. Officials can influence Commission drafting for an EU wide measure which the UK Parliament has to accept once negotiated. Ministers in this government seem to sign up to more or less anything with a made in Brussels label on it.
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JR: “I do remember the government and the nation being damaged by being too European..”
I entirely understand what you mean, but one might be cautious about terminology. I personally despise the political construct the European Union, for reasons to numerous to mention.
I feel perfectly at home in Europe, and indeed, plan to spend a week or so in Rome shortly.
Europe is Great! It is the European Union and all its works that (in my opinion) should be reviled.
Reply: Yes, you admonish me wisely. I love Europe - my continent - but never want it to become my country.
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Perhaps he didn’t feel the need to say much about the middle east as the Great Tony Blair is there to sort it all out, after all Tony is a well respected and trusted figure in the middle east. lol
Under Labour we will never have a vote on further integration into Europe as Mr Brown knows that the vast majority of native Britons are opposed to further integration and relinquishing sovereignty to a European superstate. I fear though, much of the damage has already been done by the current dictatorship.
What we voted for under Edward Heath, is not what we have now. The British would never have voted to become part of what we have now had we known at the time. I personally feel the benefits of being part of the EU now are vastly out numbered by the negatives. The EU in my opinion epitimises everything that is wrong in modern politics. The tail wagging the dog comes to mind. As my generation dies off, the new brainwashed PC generation will accept further integration, as after all they have never known the “Great” Britain that my generation knew.
(Reference to a person deleted as I am unsure of the allegation made)
Reply: Yes. It is particularly interesting that Gordon Brown is so strongly against a referendum, when he was advertised as Labour’s Eurosceptic! Clearly he changed his mind on becoming Prime Minister.
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Having watched Milliband trying and failing to doubletalk Paxman last night it struck me that David Milliband lacks the experience and the foresight required for the role of foreign secretary. His curt dismissal of calls for a referendum on the EU treaty also underlined his undemocratic credentials. If David Milliband is top of the Labour pecking order then it shows they are in bad shape.
Reply: He is one who is sinking in high office, rather than being lifted by it.
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Very well said, Cliff 12:35.
I clearly remember casting my ‘yes’ vote for membership of the EEC (hangs head in shame). I’ll admit that I didn’t read the treaty, but I bought into the political propaganda at the time that we were just entering a simple trading relationship with our nearest neighbours. There was even an element of fear introduced by the ‘yes’ campaign, based on the premise that our then significant trade with Australia and New Zealand was reducing, and that exclusion from the EEC would be economic suicide.
As a country we failed to read the small-print and take account of the natural tendencies of all bureaucrats to grow their bureaucratic empires in their own self-interest.
Oh, how I wish I could undo that vote. I suspect that the majority of the country now feels the same.
JR - we need next weeks conference to be the most memorable in the history of the party - and for the right reasons…
I have my fingers crossed already.
Reply: as one who voted No I can vouch that the whole establishment united to tell people it was just free trade and jobs depended on it. It began a long tradition of misleading the British people over this most crucial of issues. I agree we need the leadership to take the roof off next week - especially about the Constitution.
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