Retirement and Participation Committee Report
Baroness Manningham-Buller Excerpts(2Â weeks ago)
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Baroness Manningham-Buller (CB)
My Lords, it is getting late, so the House will be pleased to hear that I have cut what I was going to say. I start with the report itself. I was a member of the committee and I have been quite surprised by some of the comments. On the committee, there were four members of the Government, four members of the Opposition, two members of the Liberal Democrats and two members of the Cross Benches, of whom I was one. The report was agreed, and not only because of the skilful chairmanship of the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor.
It has been said many times this evening that we are a self-governing House. We all subscribe to that, which is why this report is pragmatic, practical, modest and reflective of a manifesto commitment. While I accept it is not the business of a Select Committee to implement a manifesto commitment, this softens its edges in such a way that we would hope—referring to what the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, said—avoids a simplistic law coming from the other place, which we would not welcome.
We also need to listen to ourselves. I find it arrogant to assume that major damage will be caused by the gradual—I use that word deliberately—retirement of current Members. What price recent experience, fresh generational perspectives, recent employment, experience in cyber and AI and younger perspectives? Of course it will be a sad loss to say goodbye to some of our Members, as it was to say goodbye to many of our hereditary friends. We liked them, they contributed in most cases, and we miss them. Here I quote Dylan Thomas, like the noble Lord, Lord True, who equated death with leaving the House. There is a further quotation from that poem, that
“wise men at their end know dark is right”.
There are three things I would like to mention which were not in the remit of the committee. Inevitably, the House would have liked us in different ways to do things that we were not asked to do. The first, which many noble Lords have mentioned, is about how people arrive here. What my noble friend Lord Burns recommended—one in for two out, and about 600—still looks appealing.
Secondly, please can the shackles on HOLAC be removed, so that it can go back to putting forward a few more people than two?
Thirdly, from my recollection, the committee was not about capacity; it was about retirement age. We talked about capacity, and at one stage we had a draft paragraph, but given that the House authorities themselves are addressing the issue, we did not pursue it.
I hope that the House will approve the principle of this report, and I recommend it.
Afghanistan
Baroness Manningham-Buller Excerpts(5Â years, 1Â month ago)
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Baroness Manningham-Buller (CB) [V]
My Lords, in September 2001, shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, when I was deputy head of MI5, I flew to Washington with the head of MI6 and the head of GCHQ to discuss with our American colleagues what more our intelligence community should do to counter the threat. The threat was not new but the scale and audacity of the attacks were, although we had been expecting a major attack by AQ for some time. The decision was about al-Qaeda, its base in Afghanistan and its close relationship with the Taliban. I do not remember any discussion on Iraq. Subsequently, there were divergences of policy and approach but at that stage we were as one; indeed, most countries in the world wanted to support America.
Twenty years on, I could weep. Has all that effort been in vain? Were all those lives lost and lives ruined for naught? In this, I agree with what the Lord Privy Seal and the noble Lord, Lord Hammond of Runnymede, have said. In one respect, it certainly has not been wasted. I say this to dispirited veterans and to grieving families of servicemen who lost their lives in Afghanistan: remember that no terrorist attacks have been launched from Afghanistan for the last two decades, as far as I know. But now I wonder whether my hope that progress in helping Afghanistan move from its medieval past might last. I recall bitterly the comment of al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s deputy, made five years in, to the effect that this time not even Dr Brydon would get home. That should remind us of the patience, long-term nature and sense of history that the West rarely shows but which the Taliban and their supporters have.
Others in this debate will cover much more eloquently than I can the acute humanitarian crisis, the strategic implications, including for NATO, and the need to begin, when appropriate—here, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Hain—a dialogue with the Taliban, however unpalatable, to explore incentives for good behaviour. Others suggest that they have changed. I am afraid that I am sceptical, but we shall see.
I end by warning of two major security concerns. First, there is inspiration. The Taliban victory and its rout of western forces, as it appears, will inspire and embolden those who wish to promote jihad against the West. Events over the last few days show that the success of this ideology is possible and that will excite, encourage and spur terrorists. Secondly, on safe space, even if we believe the Taliban when they say that they will not allow terrorists to operate from their territory, I doubt they could stop that happening. The border with Pakistan is porous and its Government supportive of the Taliban. There is plenty of room to recruit, plot and train a new generation of terrorists. I wish I could end on a more positive note, and maybe my pessimism is misjudged, but I expect more terrorism directed against the West, based on extreme Islamist ideology.