Syria

Lord Wright of Richmond Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wright of Richmond]

My Lords, I will address the first of the questions put by the noble Lord, Lord Wood, and I will be as brief as possible.

Has the Minister read a very pertinent article in the latest issue of the Spectator, by my former colleague, Sir Andrew Green? He is probably better known to your Lordships as head of Migration Watch, but in this case he is speaking as a former ambassador to Syria, like me. Will the Minister please draw that article urgently to the attention of her right honourable friends before they take any decision? I note that the Statement says that no decision has yet been taken to supply arms to the rebels. The article’s headline is:

“Arm Syria’s rebels? That would be pouring petrol on a fire”,

and I beg the Government not to do that.

[Baroness Warsi]

I have not read that article, but I will make sure that I do and that it is brought to the attention of my colleagues. It is important that a wide range of views is fed into the debate when these decisions are made. I absolutely accept the noble Lord’s concerns about pouring petrol on a fire, but I think that he will agree with me that doing nothing is not an option.