King’s Speech

Lord Frost Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Frost (Con)]

My Lords, it has been a long day and I promise I will not take too long. We have heard very many interesting speeches during the day. I particularly welcome the maiden speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Young, and my noble friend Lord Roberts. I am glad that the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, mentioned his biography of Napoleon. I confess that I am not so great a fan of Napoleon as my noble friend, but it is a book that I greatly admire. It perhaps had the same effect on me as the biography of Lord Salisbury did on the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, to judge by his remarks, in that it made me understand much better the motivations and workings of the Napoleonic state—which of course has been so influential in continental Europe—without necessarily making me any more sympathetic to it as a way of governing countries.

It is a pleasure, if perhaps an all too rare pleasure, to be able to support the Government completely in the foreign policy and defence agenda that was set out in the gracious Speech and in the Prime Minister’s speech at Mansion House this week, because I do not share the views that we have heard today of the foreign policy agenda of the past couple of years. Many people said that after Brexit foreign policy would be one of the areas that we would find most difficult to make work, and I do not think that events have shown that. We took a lead on Ukraine that I still believe made a great difference to the way Ukraine was handled; we have the AUKUS treaty and the new treaty with Japan that covers many issues; we have the new trade agenda, the CPTPP, the agreements with Australia and New Zealand and, I hope, with India soon, and many more. So Britain is returning to the foreign policy scene. I do not think we are a bit player. We are a major player, and we are making a difference on the world scene. I encourage the Government and Ministers to keep pushing on that in the year to come.

I want to make two specific points before finishing. The first is on China. I very much agree with what the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, said earlier about China. We have to face the fact that we face in China huge threat. It is an old civilisation, a civilisation to be admired, but one that is unfortunately in the evil hands of the CCP at the moment. We heard the noble Lord, Lord Alton, set out some of the reasons why I do not hesitate to use that word. Although the Government’s strategy has moved on China over the past couple of years, it still perhaps lacks some of the clarity and sharpness that we are going to need to take us forward on that relationship. It is a bit descriptive perhaps to say that it is a systemic player. It is a menu to set out the three words of protect, align and engage. It is not a set of priorities. It is not helping us make judgments about where we draw the line on issues such as investment, trade, science and tech co-operation, education and students and much more. I wonder whether this is a good moment, with the new Foreign Secretary arriving with his expertise on China, to try to sharpen up that strategy—perhaps with a confidential element to it—to bring clarity, direction and guidance to all those who have to represent this country around the world.

One area where I think this is an issue—I will finish quickly now—is on the British Indian Ocean Territory, where we know that negotiations are under way with Mauritius. It appears that the Government have changed their view over the past year of the advisory judgments that came from the ICJ and ITLOS and the status of the General Assembly resolutions on this subject. There was a very good paper from the Policy Exchange think tank last month with an excellent foreword from the noble Lord, Lord West, setting out his concerns on that. Mauritius is a country that is influenced by China and could well be influenced further. I find it troubling that we are in a negotiation that seems likely to result in handing over that territory with such an important base, such an important strategic asset for the United Kingdom, without fully understanding why it must be done or why the legal view has changed. Perhaps, either in winding up or later, the Minister could set out why the legal view has changed. Perhaps it is time for a fuller statement on where those negotiations stand and what the Government’s aims are.