Middle East: Defence
Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)
My Lords, the United Kingdom was not expected to take part in the initial strikes on Iran, as far as I am aware, so why did the Government not authorise the use of Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in mid-February, as my noble friend pointed out, when our ally the USA requested the use of those bases? It meant that the US Air Force was spending 37 hours in the air without a base in Europe.
Further to the attack on RAF Akrotiri, which, as the Minister quite rightly mentioned, is a sovereign British base, by Hezbollah—obviously, the proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran—when will the Government expel Iranian diplomats from the United Kingdom, as they did following the Novichok attack by Russia, when we expelled 16 diplomats?
Lord Coaker (Lab)
The Foreign Office will no doubt have heard the noble Baroness’s request about Iranian diplomats. She will also know that the Foreign Office called in the Iranian ambassador to express our displeasure with what was going on.
There is a point of difference between the noble Baroness and me. I thought the Prime Minister was right not to join in the initial offensive by America and Israel on the Saturday. We did not think it was correct and that is why we would not allow the use of our bases at Fairford and Diego Garcia. She is quite right to point out the problems that that caused flights from the United States, but when the US came with the new request, we agreed.
What made the difference among the Middle East nations was that they could not believe the indiscriminate way in which Iran retaliated. It did not retaliate only against American military bases and Israel; it launched missile attack after missile attack against numerous Middle Eastern countries which were in disbelief that that had happened. They then started to say, “What are we going to do to protect ourselves?” Along with the Middle Eastern countries and their populations, it endangered our Armed Forces and our citizens—people from the UK there for business and tourism.
That is why, in defence of our friends and allies in the region, and in self-defence, we thought the situation was different and it gave us a legal basis on which we could support the action and allow the use of our bases. That was the Government’s decision. Others may disagree with it, but I suspect the vast majority of people in our country think it is right to act in a way that promotes self-defence rather than the offensive action which took place on the Saturday.
UK Armed Forces in Middle East
Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts(1 year, 10 months ago)
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The Earl of Minto (Con)
I thank my noble friend for that question. It was indeed under Operation Shader, which has been in place since 2014. In fact, I answered a question about this the other day. The RAF has flown nearly 9,000 missions under Operation Shader and released more than 4,000 precision weapons, which gives noble Lords an idea of the scale and importance of ensuring that Daesh in Iraq and Syria is ultimately destroyed. There is no intention to increase the scope of that operation, but back in April it was the appropriate asset to use for that particular sortie.
Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)
My Lords, I would like to take up the point in the question asked by the noble Baroness opposite and hopefully have further information. I had concerns about some of the news that came out at the weekend that, in the project taking place in Gaza, we could end up looking at deploying British troops to be involved in the delivery of lorries on to the land. I would have great concerns about British troops being put into that position. We would not want to look as though we are condoning any of the Hamas actions that took place on 7 October; humanitarian aid is another issue. Could my noble friend give us reassurance that British troops will not be deployed inappropriately in this matter?
The Earl of Minto (Con)
My Lords, I can give an absolute assurance that that report was pure speculation. That is exactly where the situation remains.
King’s Speech
Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts(2 years, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)
My Lords, first, I pay tribute to my noble and wonderful friend Lady Goldie, who will be sorely missed, and welcome my noble friend Lord Roberts of Belgravia, who will be a great asset to this House.
It has been 40 days since one of the worst atrocities since World War II took place, carried out by Hamas terrorists on Israeli soil. Yet within 48 hours the sophisticated propaganda machine run from Iran—that bastion of human rights, according to the UN—had managed to put the blame on Israel. Those 1,400 men, women and children massacred and the 240 hostages—some British, by the way—are rarely mentioned in the media and elsewhere. The focus is solely on Gaza, the home of 100,000 Hamas terrorists, where women and children are used as human shields and where billions of pounds in aid has been siphoned off to buy weapons and luxury for those who supposedly lead them, right under the noses of the UN, the EU, Governments and agencies which have turned a blind eye.
Terrorism is a cancer which spreads if untreated. Let us recall the IRA. Over four decades, more than 2,000 civilians were murdered and thousands were injured in its so-called just war. But while the IRA tried to bomb us into oblivion, the slow creep of Islamic extremism was on the rise. I joined an airline when hijacking was the order of the day. Some noble Lords may remember Entebbe and Dawson’s Field, the BOAC VC10 and Black September, the forerunner of the PLO. The wake-up call should have been Lockerbie—Pan Am flight 103. A sleeper in Frankfurt airport placed a bomb in the hold of a 707. I give examples only because I am someone who specialised in aviation security for many years. Meanwhile, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood went unchecked. A once peaceful religion was being slowly hijacked by ideology.
The modus operandi of these death cults is to destroy Jews, infidels and anyone who stands in their path. The icing on their cake, of course, was 9/11—3,000 victims blown to smithereens by suicide bombers. Here in the UK, four years later, it was 7/7 and a further 15 attacks, including the Manchester Arena bombing—our music festival, an evening of joy that turned out to be one of the worst atrocities carried out on British soil. Last weekend was our weekend to remember. Organisers were asked to postpone, but no: why would they?
These are not always peaceful protests, whatever the naive or the apologists may say. For too many outside tonight, this is not about being pro-Palestine. They are anti-Israel and anti-Jewish and have been whipped up by Islamic extremists calling for jihad. One of them is even an NHS GP from London, who is apparently in charge of Hizb ut-Tahrir, HT, which is apparently not a terrorist group. There are activists from some mosques who are clerics spouting death and destruction. It is out there, and it is on the record. This is brainwashing children and leaving so many decent people afraid to speak out.
The public have lost confidence in the authorities, and political correctness has stifled debate. Multi- culturalism has become a myth, and it will fail if one or two sections of society refuse to integrate and insist on imposing an ideology on everyone else. This is a holy war, when all decent people of all religions and none need to come together, stand up, speak out and be counted. Appeasement is not an option. Why is the IRGC not a proscribed terrorist group when it is Iran that pulls the strings?
In conclusion, to go back to the beginning, for those still in denial, Israel is fighting for her very existence, and our Jewish friends and neighbours are fighting just to live in peace. This is a battle we cannot lose—otherwise, we are all lost. Staying silent is not an option. As Lady Thatcher once said:
“The first duty of any Government is to safeguard its people against external aggression. To guarantee the survival of our way of life”.
If we cannot do that, we have no future.