Turkey

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Thursday 20th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

It is important for noble Lords to understand slightly more the complexity of what led to these protests. What started off as concerns about a Bill on the use and sale of alcohol became an environmental dispute about the development of a shopping mall in Gezi Park, which has stood for 60 years. This then became a broader political dispute. It is important for us to remember that there are different things happening with the different groups in Turkey, but I completely take the noble Lord’s point in relation to making sure that these matters are resolved peacefully and by a political dialogue, and that Turkey continues to be aware of its international obligations in dealing with these protests.

[Lord Dykes]

Will my noble friend make specific representations about the large number of journalists and lawyers who seem to be languishing in Turkish jails, which is an affront to democracy?

[Baroness Warsi]

I will see that we raise that in bilateral discussions.

EU: UK Isolation

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Grand Committee

Asked by

[Lord Dykes]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to avoid increasing United Kingdom isolation in the European Union.

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the usual channels for the opportunity of launching this vital debate today. Sadly, I have to say at once that the rather controversial and rather expensive funeral event last Wednesday provides a sombre memorial to this theme, recalling to all of us the negative attitudes towards Europe of someone who was—again, I feel sad about saying this—one of the most rebarbative Prime Ministers in Britain’s post-war history.

The present Prime Minister, however, was obliged to call off visits to EU capitals to discuss some changes in our links to the rest of the member states. It is very self-defeating if leading Tory Ministers and politicians refer to the over-repeated phrase “British national interest” as if that were wholly different from our membership of the Union and totally different from that of all the other members. At least the late-interred Prime Minister ended up usually agreeing with the others on treaty changes, despite all the Sturm und Drang in those days of shrill arguments. Mr Cameron, however, is now in danger of launching a risky plan which is designed to appease his wilder anti-EU MP colleagues, and which could quickly get out of control.

It also looks somewhat hilarious if a British politician starts trying to educate our German friends on the goals of economic and mercantile efficiency, bearing in mind the huge gulf in our economic performance. We have a UK trade deficit of around £100 billion, despite a quarter fall in the value of sterling over the past four years. Germany’s trade surplus is the other way round, but even bigger. We should all be grateful to the German ambassador for his polite but riveting comments at Bloomberg’s last July on the dangers inherent in irresponsible isolation and to Dr. Rudolph Adam, the plenipotentiary at the moment. He complained to William Hague’s assistant last October that Britain’s refusal to take a lead in Europe meant that we would just see the red lights of the train that has already left the station.

Indeed, we have heard the same complaints from our own citizens, now alarmed at this possible Cameron demarche. I refer to very prominent business leaders such as Richard Branson, Martin Sorrell and Sir Roger Carr. Incidentally, the US Government intervened collectively and individually to say, “Please do not go down this path”. Former EU and US British envoys such as Sir Nigel Sheinwald have taken this approach. Indeed, in one of our debates on 17 December 2012, the noble Lord, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, who was originally speaking in this debate, said:

“As the Prime Minister prepares … I really hope he will avoid the temptation to hold out a false prospectus. One should not talk about ‘new deals’ unless one is sure that they are realistic”.—[Official Report, 17/12/12; col. 1391.]

It is never a weakness for any country, struggling as we are with our economic problems in an exposed position, to pay attention to what others think of us. Sadly, we have to recall, painfully, the derision which many mainland Europeans felt when we were first driven out of the exchange rate mechanism on 16 September 1992 as the Treasury was unable to keep the pound from falling below the agreed minimum level. We then became so scared at the huge obligation and discipline involved in a single currency that we effectively decided not to join at all, despite Tony Blair’s pretences.

We have to recall, therefore, the huge disappointment of the other members in other areas. We received the unique budget rebate but did not then become more co-operative on other areas of European endeavour, despite that unusual privilege. We have to recall the irritation, too, when we sought the biggest number of opt-outs and exclusions when Maastricht and the later treaties, including Lisbon, came along.

The irritation we now cause when a UK Minister arrives for a Council of Ministers meeting is palpable. We have become the bad member of the club, whingeing and moaning about European things again and again. One of the dottiest reasons for this irrational behaviour is because an unusually large number of old-fashioned nationalist Tory MPs are the only politicians I know—apart from some of the scallywags in UKIP, many of whom benefit from the PR system for the European Parliament—who have a notion of national sovereignty which is, literally, at least 100 years out of date.

How many times do positive Europeans have to remind such people that pooling sovereignty by way of signing unanimous treaties, achieved by consensus, is not a loss of real sovereignty, it is an increase? We have done it in other treaties, to no ill effect, all over the world. It is quite extraordinary and myopic that a false pride in our so-called special relationship and so-called hyperbolic link with the US can induce British leaders such as Mr Blair, Mr Brown and, indeed, the present Prime Minister, to go into rather questionable military adventures—which we usually later regret—but also cause us to suffer hot flushes when confronted with a perfectly sensible measure of EU co-operation such as a new financial support system between the central banks. They were watching our reactions very closely at that time.

At the same time, as if to emphasise the muddle, Mr Cameron seeks to remind us that he wants after all to stay in the Union. Before we irritate the others to the extent that they muse again about the Lisbon treaty provisions allowing for recalcitrant member states to leave if they wish, we really need some clarification on these vital—indeed, existential—matters. What relationship would replace the present one? As Peter Ludlow, the well known EU analyst based in Brussels, said in January,

“The argument that the rest of Europe will simply acquiesce in whatever kind or arrangement (we) opt for, because ... our partners need us ... more than the UK needs them, is a total illusion”.

Furthermore, when you use the microscope on repatriation, you soon realise that it is the grand illusion and pretence of all time, especially when you see that we already have more opt-outs, exceptions, derogations and exclusions than any other country.

I am therefore extremely grateful to my noble friend the Senior Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Lady Warsi, for coming to answer this debate today— I wish her well in her response—and, indeed, for all the previous occasions when she has dealt with a vast number of questions and debates on these matters with great care and attention to detail. Now she has the precious opportunity to enlighten us all so that we can leave this discussion with a spring in our step.

A few weeks after the PM sadly refused to attend the Nobel Peace Prize award to the European Community in Oslo, I had the chance to ask my noble friend what further opt-outs we would now seek in Brussels. She very kindly stated that,

“the Government always seek outcomes that are in the national interest … our priorities include … the single market and … fair competition”.

When I pressed for more specific answers to try to,

“avoid needless opt-outs of a chauvinistic or nationalistic nature”,

she added that HMG should be,

“putting a case … that the European Union is improved but, within that, we also get a good deal”.—[Official Report, 4/2/13; col. 9.].

I hope that she will not consider it discourteous to suggest that this is all rather vague and generalised.

I live in France as well and have the opportunity to observe public life and politics there at close quarters. It is interesting that such a proud—indeed, sometimes very nationalistic—country sees absolutely no contradiction between its own direct interests and those of the Union. They coincide symbolically too—as in Berlin and Madrid, and most other capitals, the EU flag flies proudly alongside the national tricolour. They do not feel the one cancels out the other. The UK is the only major member state where government buildings never, ever fly the European flag. Why are we so nervous about Europe? Why are we so immature?

Let us return to the need for detail on policies. For example can the Minister guide us on what list of opt-outs we will determine for inclusion and exclusion in the JHA review? My impression is that the Government have not got a clue what to do. My noble friend will know of the report of sub-committees E and F of the EU Select Committee showing the huge weight of non-political evidence that abandoning the JHA provisions, or the principal ones, in most of the specific policy areas such as EAW, would be a monumental disaster. I will refrain from commenting too much on what Kenneth Clarke said at the end of January on these matters. How the Prime Minister must now regret the way in which the Government, including when they were in opposition, have encouraged the most Europhobic MPs to fuel this anti-EU strategy with the business community outside—although not many leading businessmen are now still involved—to the extent that it is even becoming part of future leadership moves by some ambitious new Tory MPs. The bitterness felt by the EPP in Brussels and Strasbourg about the Tory withdrawal in the European Parliament still lingers.

Can the Minister help us today about what kind of referendum will be constructed after so-called renegotiations have run their course, especially since the Business Secretary reminded us again recently that it will scare off investors and hit the economy?

The other area where we need meticulous care by the Government is in responding to the widespread dismay about the City of London market culture which is expressed here so stridently. The City—and I am a City person myself—is indeed a very precious asset which we are proud of and fortunate to possess, but the market crash of 2007-08, the way in which the banks behaved and the speculative spivery background of some people in the City offend some of our continental friends, and that needs to be acknowledged. Although I shall not quote from them, I commend in this context the lengthy but convincing last two paragraphs of the speech by the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, the chief Opposition spokesperson on Europe in this House, in the debate on the EUC report on banking union in Grand Committee on 26 March. He set out very clearly what our responsibilities should be.

Another area where the UK needs to respond sensitively to our partners is in their anxieties about tax havens, where our overseas territories are a particular preoccupation. Above all, we need to remember the chilling reality that, apart from the natural courtesy of a vague response, not a single other member state agrees with our peculiar attitudes, these initiatives that have recently been promulgated, not even the newest member states, not even Poland, very little in the Czech Republic, not at all in Spain or Italy and certainly not in Croatia. The Tory party needs to show the courage and enthusiasm for Europe that Mrs Thatcher showed in 1975.

I look forward to my noble friend helping us today with some encouraging responses about how these strange negotiations will reduce our isolation.

EU: Legislation

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Dykes]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what derogations and opt-outs from European Union legislation they are seeking in negotiations with European Union partners.

[The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi)]

My Lords, the Government always seek outcomes that are in the national interest when negotiating with other European Union member states. We work with a range of countries and our priorities include protecting the integrity of the single market and allowing fair competition for all members of the EU.

[Lord Dykes]

I thank the noble Baroness for that Answer. The Government are rightly very keen indeed on the single market, which is not just a free trade area but much more. The strong apparatus of support and protection that the single market affords to all member states means, effectively, that you have to stay in the EU as well. Is it not therefore important for the Government to avoid needless opt-outs of a chauvinistic or nationalistic nature?

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, I am always impressed with the ever-increasing appetite for discussing Europe in this House. Many of these matters were raised in the debate that took place on Thursday of last week. Nobody in this House would argue that every time the United Kingdom goes to the European Union we should not always act in our national interest and make sure that we are continually putting a case forward that means that the European Union is improved but, within that, we also get a good deal.

EU: Prime Minister’s Speech

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Thursday 31st January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, I very much thank my noble friend Lady Noakes for raising this debate on a most important subject. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Symons of Vernham Dean, for raising a most disturbing constitutional point, to which I hope the Minister will be able to give us at least a preliminary response today.

I was very glad that the Prime Minister emphasised his apparent desire to remain a member of the Union. He said that repeatedly. Of course, he did not bring himself to say “full-hearted member”, which was in the original Conservative manifesto that we remember from many years ago. Apart from some limpid support from a few Czech politicians, the UK stands chillingly alone yet again in this chauvinistic posture.

Despite the eurozone crisis last year, most new member states are anxious to join in the euro, which they see remains a strong international currency, unlike sterling. That is one very important point that we have to acknowledge as we now see the eurozone economy and markets recovering. Instead of getting on with strengthening the Union to create a greater and greater collective sovereignty for all the members, which of course remain individual sovereign countries as well, a small number of witless—I am sorry to use that word—Tory MPs, scared of the euro and of UKIP in equal measure, have forced a foolish PM to abandon his own exhortation five years ago for his party to stop banging on about Europe all the time.

Struggling, therefore, to contain the atavistic forces that he has now unleashed, Mr Cameron will henceforth lead a country teetering on the brink of resolving its incoherent European policies in favour of either long-term half-membership or perhaps complete separation. The others are by now getting so fed up with the antics coming from Britain from one of the parties in the coalition that the bad member of the club is now disliked more and more. They may one day even invoke the Lisbon treaty machinery to ask us to leave. We have not reached that point yet and they are happy to go into discussions about so-called reform.

I am very glad to see, in contrast, that the Deputy Prime Minister is not going along with all this nonsense about an in-out referendum, to be promulgated many years before any real negotiations begin. The public must by now be thoroughly bemused by the twists and turns of the superficial referendumitis arguments by all politicians of all parties, with the dubious exception of Mr Nigel Farage and his colleagues.

My right honourable friend has clarified the latest position in asserting that it makes sense to wait before suggesting such a drastic step, since, sadly, we still have the very unappetising EU Act of 2011 on the statute book. After all, even a dubiously worded referendum at some stage in the future would be dealing, presumably, with powers returning to the UK rather than going away, were such a negotiation to be feasible, which is, as Ken Clarke said in the launch yesterday, a big “if”.

Parliament is constantly undermined. Our Conservative colleagues always say that they admire and respect history. Why do they undermine it by always talking about referendums when we made all the major decisions in British history without establishing Parliament’s authority again and again. That is what we need to do in this country.

Finally, why is it that myopic Tory politicians strongly approve of British companies being international, even to the extent sometimes of being slack on paying national taxes, but believe that countries have to be national only? This is a peculiar division and we need more clarification.

Kosovo

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton, on her work in securing discussions between Serbia and Kosovo. She has personally led great efforts to secure these further discussions, supported of course by us and many others. Whatever individual countries’ reasons are for not recognising Kosovo, the UK’s position is very clear. We support Kosovo’s progress as an independent state which we recognise, and recognise that the independence of that state is irreversible.

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that this imbroglio has gone on far too long already? Are the British Government capable of persuading Serbia that the recognition of Kosovo would be a spur to its own EU membership and would be the best result for both countries? Will she personally, and other Ministers in government, support the respectable lobbyists in this country and elsewhere, who are now pressing hard for Kosovo’s recognition and independence?

[Baroness Warsi]

The noble Lord is, of course, aware of the discussions with Serbia about its aspirations for EU membership. It is not being discussed as a precondition at the moment but, of course, Serbia recognises that stability in the region has to be the way forward in ensuring that every country can make its own individual journey towards further involvement in the EU.

Ugandan Asians

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, the fact that I am following the excellent speech of the noble Lord, Lord Janner of Braunstone, gives me the opportunity to say that some years after we had the great dramas which centred not only on Leicester, but on the London Borough of Harrow, where I was a Member of Parliament—in those days in the Conservative cause—we had the great privilege, right in the centre of the borough in Harrow, of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the second and third exodus of the Kindertransport children coming to the railway stations in London. They had been saved and rescued and taken to various parts of the country, and been given good, kind homes where they were welcomed as Jewish children fleeing from Nazi tyranny. I had, of course, to remind them that British Rail had asked me to pass on a message saying that there was still a bill outstanding for 950 scones, 475 cups of tea, 725 cups of coffee and could someone eventually pay the bill, which, with interest would be about £19,000? I did not bother with that.

I was very proud of the fact that Harrow, my borough, where I was the MP for one of the two constituencies, represented the multiethnic, multiracial, multicommunity philosophy that had already begun. We had a very substantial Jewish community of various groups, kinds and origins, as the noble Lord, Lord Janner, will know—he came to Harrow quite often I think. In an informal, colloquial sense I was honorary member of at least four synagogues and I went to synagogue as much as I went to church, which I was very proud of, and I always enjoyed them, even if the service was a bit longer than the Christian one. It was a great joy for us to welcome them and to remember what that meant for people.

Harrow had other groups as well. We had 190 Ismailis centred in a complex of about five different roads, with their pictures of the Aga Khan on the mantelpiece and so on, and I kept in close touch with them. In 1970, when I was first elected, having been very close to Edward Heath as his campaign assistant for the general election in 1964 and a candidate in 1966, he by then having become leader of the party, it was rather difficult for the local Conservative Association to say no to me when I was presented as possible choice of candidate and so I fought Tottenham. The courage he showed was immense. He was not always an easy person to work with—I hasten to add that I worked at a very humble level and he was the famous Prime Minister by then—but when I was elected in Harrow he had not forgotten that Enoch Powell had issued his venomous remarks on several occasions just before that election.

We tried to take action in Harrow because it was such a sensitive subject, with our multiethnic groups and so on. Edward Heath, with his characteristic dark, gothic humour said, “Now that you have become an MP I want to punish you by making you a PPS at the Ministry of Defence, dealing with all the Ministers, but in the mean time we are also going to do something else”—this was slightly later—“we are going to make Harrow a red-star zone for receiving Ugandan Asian refugees”. We therefore promulgated this locally.

Noble Lords can imagine that the scenes were a bit stormy in some of the local political groupings. In my own association there were some indigenous characters from the original community who were not so keen on this, but we insisted and Edward Heath, with great courage, and Alec Douglas-Home as well as other members of the Government ensured that legislation was passed, as referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. I thank him for his remarks. We insisted on that and we never looked back from the original reception when two sets of families, I think, came in. I am not exaggerating when I say that the borough of Harrow was already a dynamic area, thanks to the local MP—that is exaggerating, of course—and a very successful business area in terms of the people who resided there, but the philosophy, ethics and business acumen of the borough was transformed not only by the original Jewish communities whose members were resident there and sometimes working there, but by the arrival of the Ugandan Asians.

It had an extraordinary, tangible effect over a few years. The borough was transformed; it was electrified into becoming an interesting, riveting place, not only because the local corner shop stayed open until midnight or even 1am, but for all the other contributions that this remarkable community has made. Some time after, doing my rounds as the Conservative MP for Harrow East in our main residential area of Stanmore where we had our most important ward committee, I noticed the arrival of a very distinguished, very courteous, very polite young Ugandan Asian gentleman who slightly later became the ward chairman. I am referring, of course, to Dolar Popat; now the noble Lord, Lord Popat, of Harrow. That has given me, just as a personal example, a wonderful picture of the success of what this community has done for this country and what it meant for them to be saved, along with their families, children of all ages and older people, too. They have made such a contribution, which is unbelievable for a community that is quite small in comparison with other influxes over the decades. So we say thank you to them for what they have done.

As the noble Lord, Lord Popat, said, it is a matter of great delight that a reconciliation subsequently occurred, with Uganda becoming a totally different country. I am glad to see that the Ugandan Government are represented in the public seats today. That, too, means a lot to us. I often feel that historically each continent has its turn. I remember the stark poverty and abject conditions in Asia after the end of the Second World War and the old empires, with the French, the Dutch and so on leaving those territories in great poverty and distress. Good things have been done in the economies of various countries, but Asia was transformed by business acumen—by entrepreneurs, business people and investment. Who is to say that in some decades’ time, with more education and investment, not only will the Chinese come to Africa but other people will, too? Perhaps the British and other colonial powers will come back with their companies and invest more as well, not just in mining and extraction but in other things. They will help to build up Africa, as will the existing and emerging bourgeoisie in Africa—the business community that is in many different African countries, and I am sure in Uganda as well, which I have not had the pleasure of visiting. That reconciliation is important, because we are all in the global village now, and it means that Africa could be the next continent to develop—with more investment in education, and more of the air-conditioning that is needed in very hot climates. As those things gradually come, they will mean a great deal to those who experienced the bitter past and later a glorious future, and arrived here to help this country to become one of greater justice and fairness and multiethnic tolerance.

UK-Israel Life Sciences Council

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, that is probably slightly beyond the Question on the Order Paper. However, I can inform the noble Lord that the Minister made very clear to the Israeli ambassador Britain’s real concerns about the comments made about further settlements. I think that the ambassador was left with no doubt about the British Government’s strength of feeling on this matter.

[Lord Dykes]

Further to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, does my noble friend the Minister agree that one of the main reasons why the Israeli Government—much to the disappointment of many Israeli citizens—repeatedly ignore the representations made by the UK and other western Governments on their action in the Occupied Territories is that the United States has exercised more than 30 vetoes since 1967 to stop Israel following international law? What do the UK Government think of American veto-itis in this matter?

[Baroness Warsi]

The Government have made it clear that real progress has to be made next year, and that progress cannot be made without the US taking a lead. It has to get behind the initiative for next year. As I have said before from this Dispatch Box, this is a president in his second term, where it is right that he should prioritise these matters.

EU: United Kingdom

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Dykes]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they will hold with the Government of Germany regarding the future role of the United Kingdom in the European Union.

[The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi)]

My Lords, Ministers will meet their German counterparts for the third time in January as part of the process of building bilateral co-operation between the cross-departmental European Affairs sub-committee and its German equivalent. We maintain regular bilateral contacts and discuss a wide range of EU-related issues. Noble Lords may be aware of the Foreign Secretary’s speech on the future of the European Union, which he made in Berlin alongside the German Foreign Minister and in which he underlined that the UK has played a leading role in forging EU policy and will continue to do so.

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very positive Answer. She will have noticed in recent days that Germany—a very successful country that does not have our old-fashioned hang-ups about pretend sovereignty—seems to want us to be full-hearted members of the European Union. Does she not agree that there is a marvellous opportunity now for us to reach a sensible accord with Germany and with other leading member states—indeed, with all the member states of the Union—on the future of the extensive budget negotiations, allowing for a blend of financial discipline and important investment in infrastructure, without the Government worrying too much about a small number of Conservative MPs who have old-fashioned views on these matters, and about some UKIP candidates as well?

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, I know that there is a wide variety of opinions in this House, including on my Back Benches. All opinions in the House are valid in their own right. In relation to the budget negotiations, the Prime Minister will soon make a Statement about last week’s meeting. The Leader of the House of Lords will repeat the Statement later today, so it would be inappropriate for me to deal with that. On our relationship with Germany, I agree with my noble friend; we have a strong relationship. Germany is the UK’s second largest export market worldwide. The UK is Germany’s sixth largest trade partner. Great Britain is the first investment destination for German companies. Almost one in six of all foreign companies in Germany are British. There is a strong relationship that continues to grow.

EU: UK Balance of Trade

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

I was not aware of those specific issues in relation to food trade. However, I go back to the general point. There will be some areas, predominantly in goods, where we run a deficit but there are other areas, in which we are very good, such as services, where we run a surplus.

[Lord Dykes]

Does my noble friend agree that although the United Kingdom has a physical trade deficit with most advanced countries in the world, we make up for that in considerable financial services?

[Baroness Warsi]

I do agree. The basis of the free market is that economies focus on those things that they are best at. It would be unusual for us to produce everything if it was not competitive for us to do so. We produce those goods and services in which we are competitive and for which we have a reputation around the world. We must continue to focus on those.

Middle East: Recent Developments

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Friday 13th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dykes]

My Lords, I begin with some brief comments on the internal situation of the United States of America, which is often the key to some of the problems in the Middle East, particularly in the period approaching a presidential election. As I am well known as a keen supporter of the European Union, I will add that many of my confreres in that philosophy share my view that often Europe is singled out for especially onerous attention by the British press in comparison with other areas of the world where debt problems are much more severe. Here I refer to the recent debt crisis of some member states of the European Union.

The US problem of massive total debt is rearing its ugly head again—but of course this gets virtually no mention by scribblers in the UK papers. Once again, the approach of the so-called fiscal cliff is endangering America’s future—literally. The federal debt mountain of $16.4 trillion for 300 million people is way ahead of the much lower EU total for 500 million people, and the broken political system in Washington DC is incapable of ever reducing this horrendous figure. Congress has its usual gridlock—both the ordinary, regular one that persists and the campaign one. If the ceiling is not increased again—as it has been for 70 years—in the negotiations that presumably will follow the presidential election, the States will go bust.

Much of this debt pile is of recent origin, reflecting both the enormity of the US defence budget and, mostly, the accumulation of a succession of foreign military adventures from Vietnam onwards, when the wise presidents of the preceding period were replaced by reckless leaders who ignored Eisenhower’s advice in 1960 to beware the inexorable rise of the military industrial complex. Iraq and Afghanistan have cost billions of dollars which should have been employed in internal policy areas of benevolent, collectivist public sector activity in America—if ever that were possible— such as health, education and welfare housing. America’s broken politics prevent such initiatives lest they give rise to the usual hysteria against socialism or, even worse, communism, which is heard only in the USA of all—I was going to say advanced, but that is a misnomer for America now—countries..

Hence the only form of warped quasi-institutional demi-socialism is defence spending and defence contracts. At least these get some of the young poverty-stricken Americans access to the best public health system—it is only for the military, of course—and education that they could not afford otherwise on the street, even with Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation and other measures.

In 2003 Bush junior unleashed the illegal invasion of Iraq, followed by the British poodle, and Iraq is now a wrecked country mourning the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians, a country almost as psychologically run down as the USA itself. The Americans also invaded Afghanistan, followed by their usual UK poodle and other allies, thus breaking the sacred historical rule that the Soviets regretted. They know now that they have to withdraw to avoid further humiliation and disaster. In “Charlie Wilson’s War”, the Hollywood producers skilfully avoided the use of the word “Taliban”, the then heroic freedom fighters, as they are now the new enemy, albeit with younger adherents. One is bound to ask when this most immature geopolitical of meddlers—namely, the USA—will ever learn the lessons of the past. I hope the answer is now—right away—irrespective of the presidential election result.

The Middle East has suffered long enough from this choking embrace of the US military, the CIA and the rest of the crazy paraphernalia of zonal destabilisation on a massive scale. However, France and Britain, above all, need to recall modestly that we started this destabilisation after the First World War, when the Americans were quite rightly then tut-tutting about sinister and manipulative imperialism.

It has not, of course, been only about oil or appeasing increasingly right-wing Israeli Governments—or, indeed, because the so-called fuzzy-wuzzies had dared to attack us and must be taught a lesson—although US defence spokesmen are now saying increasingly threatening things against Iran even as we speak. I commend the speech of my noble friend Lord Lamont. It has also involved old-fashioned power politics. The Americans say that if they do not meddle then the Soviets—now the Russian Federation—will. So we have to be there, and we are always involved in a damaging way. However, it has certainly been lucrative for the huge United States defence contracting industries and their allies.

Meanwhile, Syria remains virtually the last Russian zone of influence, so the West needs to tread carefully in spite of the deeply humanitarian considerations towards mercilessly treated, hapless Syrian civilians who are in the wrong tribes and the brave freedom fighters. It is time for President Assad to go, but Russia and the People’s Republic of China must also advocate this. Lebanon is bound to be very worried in this context, as other speakers have said.

The US must surely now move on from the grotesque tragedy of 9/11—11 years ago—to a new era of more detached and sagacious support from a distance, avoiding further deterioration in the way the locals regard them in the whole of Arabia in terms of the proponents of the Arab spring. The US needs a period of introspection, as it had after Vietnam, in dealing with its own internal political and social weaknesses, modernising its welfare politics and leaving the struggling Arab countries to deal with their own problems in their own way.

There are no full answers yet, only legitimate questions posed by millions of observers of US foreign policy in Arabia, the West and Asia. Can Egypt’s fledgling democratic impulses hold at arm’s length both its own military menace and the choking grip of indebtedness to the USA? Will Libya be eventually a successful democracy, despite the shaky situation now? Can Yemen be an example in the south? Can the US reduce its slavish adulation of Saudi Arabia—mainly because of oil but other things as well? Can it drop a few hints about Saudi Arabia getting real democracy and allowing women to drive cars? After all, it seems to be totally exempt from any of the routine strictures and instructions coming out of Washington still, albeit slightly less because of Obama’s slightly more sagacious approach.

Can Israel lose its special client status and become a self-standing, proud Middle East country, not depending on 35 US vetoes in the Security Council that have allowed it to flout international law since 1967? Can it find its true role by at last following Ben Gurion’s wise advice to withdraw from the occupied territories after 1967? Can it make true peace with the next door soon-to-be, I hope, Palestinian state, so that both countries shake hands and become dynamic friends in a near east common market of immense potential? Both are very impressive countries. Will Jordan also join in this new near east common market, if it ever develops? Why not Lebanon too? Lebanon is an impressive country in terms of its business enterprises.

Will the US show its real credentials at long last as an idealistic power, as it used to be, and close down the sewer of Guantanamo Bay, as Obama solemnly promised in 2008? On his recent visit to London 10 days ago, President Carter was very critical of President Obama.

Even if we have to wait, as usual, until after yet another election in November, will the US President—I hope Obama and not the idiotic Romney—insist that the new Israeli coalition plays ball at last and withdraws from the occupied territories. If Israel does not step up to the plate at long last, the disillusionment in the West—even in Germany—will be massive.

Meanwhile, there is one other local player of immense importance that needs a place in the sun in this, one hopes, more rational order in the future, however many years it make take to develop and settle down from American mistakes. I refer to Turkey, where I had the pleasure and honour of leading a delegation of the IPU several years ago. This dynamic and forceful country, which has been referred to a couple of times in the debate, has had a recent economic past of incredible activity and growth and has made recent internal reforms in preparing for entry into the EU, which I hope will not be delayed too much longer—it has been too long already. It has now more friends externally, both in the immediate region and elsewhere.

Turkey’s long-standing friendship with Israel has been tragically damaged recently, but this can surely be put right if Israel shows due political wisdom. Turkey deserves a more positive response from many countries and it needs encouragement in dealing with the dreadful problem of Syrian refugees and escapees. I hope the West will pay far more attention in the future to what Turkish leaders, governments and politicians say about the problems in these areas. Turkey needs a place in the sun of its own and to be at the same table as the West.