Death of Alexei Navalny

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Monday 19th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I recognise what the noble Baroness raises. As I said, we are very much seized of the situation with Mr Kara-Murza and making sure that his welfare is very much a matter of discussion not just with our key partners in the G7 and the G20 but directly with the Russians to ensure that he is protected, and his welfare and health prioritised. However, there can be no escaping the fact that he too has been detained in a colony that is restrictive. We directly challenge the basis of his detention. The noble Baroness says that I have taken great care and measure. We want to ensure that his welfare is fully protected, but I assure your Lordships that we will leave no stone unturned in our advocacy with key partners, and directly with Russia, to ensure the freedoms that he stands for and his rights as a British citizen, and to make our advocacy very clear to the Russians that we regard him as one of our own. We will do our utmost to ensure, first, that his welfare is protected, and, secondly, that he is allowed to return to our country.

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, when the Minister expresses outrage, sympathy and sadness at the death of Alexei Navalny, he speaks for the whole House, and indeed, I believe, for the whole British nation. As somebody who has had dealings with President Putin in the past, I would say that the premature death of Alexei Navalny, whether at the hands of the regime or indirectly because of the conditions that were inflicted on him, is not a sign of strength but of weakness; not a sign of authority but of cowardice; not a sign of firmness but of fragility deep inside the regime of Vladimir Putin today.

I therefore ask the Minister, on behalf of the Government, to look again at the sanctions policy see where Vladimir Putin is getting the instruments to continue to conduct the war in Ukraine: for example, through Armenia and Georgia, to which exports of critical material have been increasing exponentially. Secondly, can we not now boost the communication that we have with the Russian people, as we did in the days of the Soviet Union, so that they begin to realise the pariah status that has been inflicted on a great nation?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. He has great experience and insight: indeed, he has dealt with Mr Putin directly and knows the individual concerned. On his latter point on communications—my noble friend Lord Howell also mentioned technology enablement—that has been a key feature of what we have seen in Russia directly. The fact that at this moment the death of Alexei Navalny was marked in several Russian cities demonstrably shows that, despite the coercion and suppression, people are ready and willing to come out.

We pay tribute to a number of the leaders within the opposition who have also spoken out against these events. If anything, Mr Putin should look to the example of Yulia Navalnaya and her courage and bravery, as pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord Collins. On looking at the sanctions that we have currently deployed and the broader nature of what can be done, I assure noble Lords that we are very much seized of this. Hopefully, we will be returning to your Lordships’ House in the near future to outline additional measures that we are taking. On additional measures and sanctions—the noble Lord, Lord Collins, and I have talked about this extensively on every sanction—I say that these are most effective when we act with our partners. That is why, I assure noble Lords, we are working very closely with the EU, the US and Canada in this respect.

Ukraine

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Friday 26th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my entry in the register. I also commend the noble Baroness, Lady Meyer, following her in her envoy responsibilities to Ukraine.

I want first to thank the Government for providing time for this debate on Ukraine. We need constantly to discuss the illegal, unprovoked attack on Ukraine, because the fight of the Ukrainian people is our fight as well. Secondly, I congratulate the Prime Minister on his visit last week to Kyiv and commend the important package of military help and the new security guarantees that he gave when he was there. It is good that this new money has been announced, since the 2023 money will run out in only a few weeks’ time. However, if there is to be a strong signal to the Kremlin of our long-term support, I urge the Government to give a multiyear commitment and not simply a one-year package. That will inevitably involve sacrifices by our taxpayers, but, remarkably, it is an investment in our own nation’s safety.

The basic rule of politics is that it is not what you say; it is what people hear. That one man in the Kremlin needs to hear—has to hear—that we are with Ukraine until it prevails. Sir Basil Liddell Hart, one of great strategists of the Second World War, wisely said that the outcome of the battle will more likely be determined in the minds of the commanders than in the bodies of their men. It is into the mind of Vladimir Putin that we need to get the message that he cannot win. Frankly, we in the West—in the White House and in European capitals—have become preoccupied, and therefore limited, by fears of “escalation”. It is time now that, instead, we inculcate in the minds of Putin, his high military command and that elite who acquiesce with this fatal adventure the idea that they in Russia might overstep the mark and escalate beyond their own limits and hence endanger the “motherland” itself.

It is only now, with the Ukrainians having developed their own means of striking inside Russia without our weaponry, that Russians will at last begin to see the price that they are paying for Putin’s folly. I repeat that we need to get the message into the mind of that one man who made the decision to invade—the same man who can order the withdrawal—that his strategic mission has been a failure.

We sink far too easily and far too often into the lazy, dangerous narrative that, since last year’s overoptimistic autumn offensive stalled against the minefields and trenches of the Russian conscripts, somehow Ukraine cannot succeed. That is plainly wrong. In reality, Putin’s clear original objective of limiting NATO enlargement and European Union encroachment, of dividing Europe and breaking the transatlantic bonds, has been a miserable failure—not to mention his demented ambition of taking and subordinating Ukraine in three days.

Now, with no real Russian progress in taking territory beyond the minefields, and indeed losing half of what they originally took 700 days ago, and by failing even to occupy the land they had pretended and legislated to annex, it would appear that Putin can only wait it out until Donald Trump gets elected, who, he hopes, will do some grubby deal to end the war. Even that strategy, if that is what it can be called, is incorrect. Republican members of the United States Congress who were here last week with the Marshall fund were keen to articulate that such a strategy is flawed. When he was in office, and in spite of his rhetoric, President Trump sent missiles to Poland, increased funding to NATO and robustly increased the power of his own military. Therefore, it begins to look like yet another Kremlin miscalculation.

In my personal view—and I dealt with Putin in better times—there is a weakness inside the secretive enclave in the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. From the outside, we, and indeed the Russian people, cannot know how fragile is the morale in the circle around Putin. However, from the Prigozhin incident—here was a man invented by, organised by and used by Putin brutally exposing the truth of this disaster—we got a glimpse of the unseen tensions in the ruling elite. What we saw in Prigozhin’s march on Moscow was the revelation of a serious weakness, a chink in the armour of a gambling authoritarian.

By continuing to build our supplies to Kyiv, by maintaining western unity and by giving the strongest possible message of our continuing resolve, the man in the Kremlin may yet see that there is a way out for him from this Russian-made, Putin-made disaster.

Ukraine: Humanitarian and Economic Support

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen]

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what additional humanitarian and economic support he is providing to Ukraine.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton) (Con)]

My Lords, since February 2022, we have committed over £4.7 billion in humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine. This year, the UK is providing $1 billion of support to Ukraine’s budget, through loan guarantees, and £127 million of humanitarian support for Ukraine and Moldova. During my recent visit to Ukraine, I announced further support for Ukrainians directly impacted by the invasion: £10 million for the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, to provide medical supplies, and £7 million to volunteer organisations delivering humanitarian assistance. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Foreign Secretary for his Answer and I refer to my entry in the register of interests. Can I say how much we all welcome him here for this first monthly interrogation in the House of Lords, which I am sure he is likely to enjoy? After all, his very presence in this Chamber has given a fillip to those of us who have to go around saying “Do you know who I used to be?”

I commend him for the fact that his first visit as Foreign Secretary was to Ukraine. The Ukrainians are not just fighting for their country, their land and their lives; they are also fighting very much for us. Surely, they do not need more visits and speeches but more weapons, guns and more ammunition, and they need more equipment. In that context, why was there no additional military aid offered in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Budget? Why is there no perspective on military aid for 2024, when the 2023 money is going to run out in a few weeks’ time—in March next year?

[Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. I absolutely remember not only who he is but who he used to be. He was an incredibly effective Secretary-General of NATO and did fantastic work. It is worth recalling some of the things he said to President Putin back in the day in 2002-03, which are very relevant today. To answer his question directly, I think we have given £4.6 billion of military support. We will continue to give the support that is necessary.

One of the things I found very impressive about going to Ukraine was how much they rate our support. They refer to us as their number one partner. It has been very good to see that. The one area where we can do more is in trying to mobilise the British defence industries to produce the stocks that are needed, rather than simply running down stocks. We can also work with European allies. Sometimes, if they are reluctant to give support, they may be able to backfill some of our capabilities and we can give more. I am absolutely clear that the military support is essential; that is what is helping Ukraine to succeed.

Turkey and Syria Earthquakes

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, I cannot provide a direct answer because I do not know what advice has been sought or received by the Foreign Office. I will convey the noble Baroness’s question to my noble friend Lord Ahmad when he returns.

I do not know whether the UN Secretary-General or the UN as an institution misinterpreted international law. The difficulties that the international community has faced in providing assistance to north-west Syria are a product of the Assad regime’s behaviour over recent weeks, months and years and, as I said earlier, its continued use of aid as a political weapon. The blame needs to be placed squarely at the feet of Assad himself. I will be working with the UN to verify that the UN-brokered agreement to open those additional border crossings into north-west Syria for an initial period of three months happens, and happens on the terms that have been agreed.

I should add that, according to the latest figure I have, the UN has sent 583 trucks with aid from six UN agencies, via Turkey, to north-west Syria using three border crossings: Bab al-Hawa, where 473 truck-loads managed to enter; Bab al-Salam, where 91 truck-loads entered; and al-Rai, where 19 truck-loads were able to enter the region.

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (LAB)]

My Lords, perhaps the biggest danger that we will face now is that public attention will fade, and gradually that outpouring of grief and generosity that we have seen up to now will fade because of other events taking place. Are the Government going to maintain public interest in the subject? I also draw attention to the role of Turkey in the present crisis. The Turkish people have been the worst affected by this terrible catastrophe. Although one may have differences of opinion with President Erdoğan and his Government at the moment, there is little doubt that the Turkish people have carried a huge responsibility and shown immense generosity over the years to those who have fled from Syria and are presently in refugee camps in Turkey. I hope that, in recognising that, the Government will pay specific attention to the sensitivities of Turkey at this time.

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

The noble Lord makes the important point that Turkey has faced the brunt of this disaster. The vast majority of those people killed and displaced are in Turkey. The numbers continue to mount. Frankly, we do not know the real figure but, as I said earlier, 51,000 people are known to have perished. As the Assad regime has caused such mayhem, Turkey has been left to pick up many of the pieces, and it has done so in a generous fashion, as the noble Lord said. The UK Government are not going to take their eye off the crisis that has hit Turkey and Syria. We have been one of the biggest responders. We will remain at the forefront. We have made serious commitments to Turkey and the Syrian people, and we will honour those commitments and continue to negotiate within the international community to ensure that the international donor community—not just Governments, but the multilateral agencies—provides as much support as it can to deal with the immediate aftermath of the crisis and to help with the process of rebuilding.

Georgia: Imprisonment of Mikhail Saakashvili

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, we will absolutely continue to press for progress on reforms in line with Georgia’s EU and NATO ambitions. I understand that further discussions will take place in the very near future and we continue to encourage all parties within the Georgian system to interact constructively to enact those reforms required to achieve their shared Euro-Atlantic goals and the will of the Georgian people. The Foreign Secretary met the Georgian Foreign Minister on 26 January, raising those same concerns about developments that are clearly damaging Georgia’s international reputation, its reform credentials and its EU and NATO aspirations.

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, I endorse the concerns that have been expressed about what is happening in Georgia today. Some of us who have been long-standing supporters of the ambition of Georgia to join the Euro-Atlantic family are deeply distressed about what is happening there, especially the treatment of former president Saakashvili and other members of the opposition as well. Will the Government keep up their pressure on the Government of Georgia to make sure that they adhere to the normal standards that one would expect of a country with such aspirations?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I can absolutely assure noble Lords that that is exactly what the UK is focusing on in our discussions with the Government of Georgia.

Prime Minister’s Meeting with Alexander Lebedev

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

There is a set procedure. My right honourable friend has taken the decision to leave office; there will now be a process that will be followed to allow for a transition to a new Prime Minister in an orderly fashion, and we are following exactly what has happened previously.

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, there are profound national security issues involved in what has now been disclosed almost by accident in the Liaison Committee yesterday: that the current, temporary Prime Minister, while Foreign Secretary, had these meetings without officials being present. What attempts are now being made to check out how many other meetings he had when he was Foreign Secretary, or as Prime Minister, with people who might well affect the national security of our country?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

As the noble Lord will know from his own detailed experience and insights on national security matters, all agencies take a very robust attitude in terms of ensuring full scrutiny. As I have already said, the Prime Minister will write to the Liaison Committee on the broader issues that the noble Lord has raised. I am sure the noble Lord will also realise from his own experience of being a very senior Minister that, yes, there are rules and obligations that we as Ministers have to adhere to. I mentioned previously the issue of integrity, and it is for all of us, whether we are Ministers, or in your Lordships’ House or in the other place, to uphold them—and equally, where there are meetings which take place, that they are minuted or documented to allow for an assessment of records. Let us await the response from my right honourable friend, and I am sure there will be details provided in that.

Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, it is more than an ordinary pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Godson, making his maiden speech. In Scotland, one of the great put-down lines is “I kent his faither”. When I say it today, it is the opposite of a put-down and instead a recognition of the legendary Joe Godson, who would rightly be so proud of his son today. The noble Lord made a fine maiden speech. That should be expected, as he brings to the House a wealth of experience in journalism, authorship and, of course, as director of Policy Exchange, now one of Britain’s most highly regarded and influential think tanks. We will look forward to his future, well-informed contributions.

The integrated review is well written, comprehensive and surprisingly comprehensible. The authors have done a good job constructing what looks like a coherent, ambitious strategy for post-Brexit Britain. In some areas, such as its focus on domestic resilience, it captures new and important ground. Territorial defence will inevitably matter more in the future, as the current invasion by Covid-19 has shown us only too well.

I can, I fear, make only a few brief points in the time limit. First, I believe the review lacks a critical path—a prioritised route to implementation. A plan without that ingredient is in danger of being lost in the governmental undergrowth.

Secondly, the importance of diplomacy is still underestimated. Our Diplomatic Service has been relentlessly cut back in recent years, yet the rest of this review depends on the wise insights and intelligence coming from the Diplomatic Service in the Foreign Office. Reviving and investing in diplomacy will be crucial for the success of the review.

Thirdly, the trade-offs in the defence section between investing in combating the new threats and the continuing ones will remain open to serious debate. If we are to retain our place at the leadership edge of NATO, as we aspire to, our contribution has to rest on more than just the 2.2% statistic.

Fourthly, if we are, as the review asserts, to lead by example in the world, that ambition will, as others have said, be badly damaged by the cut in the legally mandated aid budget of 0.7% of GNI. That cut is hardly an advert for a law-abiding global Britain upholding the rules-based order, and it has been widely noticed.

There is much more to be said about this large and important review, but more is time needed by all of us here and elsewhere to say it. The sooner we get that opportunity, the better.

United States: Foreign Policy

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, it is very difficult to say something positive about President Donald Trump. I am going to stretch the patience and maybe the credulity of the House and try to do so. As he has rampaged across the world, he has done something valuable, even if he has done it unconsciously. With his attacks on the American press, he has alerted all of us to the value and importance in our society of a free and vibrant media. With his partisan attacks on “so-called” judges, he has underlined across the world that free societies are based on the rule of law. When he equates neo-Nazis with anti-Nazi demonstrators, he has highlighted to the rest of us that racialism and anti-Semitism are a cancer in a civilised society. When he attacks allies for being dependencies and questions the value of NATO, he stirs the memory of how NATO saved our continent from Stalin and ended the violence in the Balkans. When he sneers about fake news, he reminds decent people that there is only the truth and not what he calls “alternative facts”. And when he attacks diplomacy, internationalism and co-operation between nations, and he slashes the budget and personnel of America’s Foreign Service and the UN, we in contrast can see that this complex, dangerous and interdependent world needs diplomacy.

He may not realise it and he may never have intended it, but Donald Trump may yet have revived and reinforced among thinking people globally that there is a better alternative to the shouty, incoherent ravings of a very temporary American President. In doing so, he will have done us all a service.

Beyond President Trump, in this country we need to face up to a very uncertain future. The Defence Secretary on Monday in the Commons outlined the grave threats that we face, when he said there were “four principal threats” to our country and the fourth one is,

“the erosion of the rules-based international order”.—[Official Report, Commons, 15/1/18; col. 611.]

I believe what he said; I agree with him. You might normally expect me to now advocate an increase in our defence budget, and I do, but I also want to make the case for diplomacy and an end to the vandalism of our national interest that is represented by the degrading of the Foreign Office and its budget. Our military is after all the last line of our nation’s defence, not the first. The military is there to reinforce and stiffen diplomacy and then robustly to act when diplomacy fails, but hard power without soft power is a recipe for constant conflict not enduring peace.

Consider this. The whole budget for the Foreign Office in 2017-18 will be £1.2 billion. Strip out cross-Whitehall funds and non-discretionary funding like subscriptions to the UN and NATO, and it is down to £900 million a year. That whole year’s budget is less than the United States is spending on its new London embassy alone. That is £900 million to run the whole diplomatic effort—in 168 countries and territories and nine multinational organisations. In contrast to that, the National Health Service spends £2,000 million a week in this country. The global staff of the Foreign Office has been reduced by 20% in the last decade. In contrast, the staff of the United States of America in the UK alone represents one-third of the total global staffing of the Foreign Office.

In a world with multiple threats to our safety and security and with the complexity of Brexit determining our long-term future prosperity, this savage amputation of our international diplomatic capacity is frighteningly short-sighted and self-harming. In our Diplomatic Service we invest in the protection and the projection of our national interest. We in this country have other powerful instruments of soft power too: the BBC World Service, the British Council, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and even—I declare an interest as vice-chairman—the internationally acclaimed Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. It is time we abandoned the wrecking-ball approach of the Trumpian world and reinforced, not slashed, that diplomatic first line of defence.

European Union: United Kingdom Membership

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

As one of the signatories to the letter concerned, perhaps I may suggest that the reason why five former Secretaries-General of NATO have taken the unprecedented step of speaking out at this time is the genuine concern that Britain might leave the European Union. As the letter quite clearly says, that would weaken British influence and weaken NATO at the same time. Surely, the Minister will agree that, at a time when we face unprecedented threats and challenges in the world today, a weakened NATO would be very dangerous indeed.

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

The noble Lord is right and he speaks from practical and detailed experience.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Luce, on securing this debate and on putting CHOGM and the Commonwealth on the Floor of this House. I join the many people who have congratulated my noble and learned friend Lady Scotland on her election as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. It is very good news for the Commonwealth. She is a brilliant choice and will strengthen the organisation enormously.

I want to confine my brief remarks to highlighting to the House the work of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. The trust was set up with the blessing of the 2011 CHOGM in Perth, Australia, and under the chairmanship of Sir John Major, to celebrate and mark Her Majesty the Queen’s unrivalled 60-year contribution to the Commonwealth, and indeed her whole life of public service.

I declare an interest because I am privileged to be a trustee of the trust, whose mission is to enrich the lives of people from all backgrounds within the Commonwealth. It does so in ambitious programmes and alliances, working towards eliminating avoidable blindness in people of the Commonwealth and empowering a new generation of young leaders. Sir John reported to the Malta CHOGM on the record so far, and it is a hugely impressive record. The Heads of Government, in their communiqué, recognised the valuable work the trust is doing. It is funded by Governments, corporate partners, trusts, foundations, community groups and indeed individuals across the Commonwealth, and it has made remarkable progress on its objectives.

The fact is that four out of five people who are blind today need not be so. There are simple and affordable means to prevent it and to treat victims, and that is what the trust seeks to address. Because of the trust’s work, already 37,000 people have had surgery to prevent trachoma blindness and 5.5 million have had antibiotic treatment. Diabetes is forecast to increase by 60% across the Commonwealth by 2030—a quite staggering and depressing figure. But with early detection and treatment, it is possible to reduce the risk of diabetic retinopathy, a major cause of blindness, by some 90%. The trust has a programme for that, and another addressing blindness in premature babies.

Finally, under its Queen Young Leaders programme, launched by Princes William and Harry, the trust aims to, and already has sought to, discover, celebrate and develop young leaders in every one of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth. I assure the House that this is a remarkable and inspiring group of young people.

The trust, with its mission to celebrate the Queen’s truly remarkable reign, has already made its mark. It was a proud point in the Heads of Government list of achievements that was broadcast from Malta.