Alec Shelbrooke
Main Page: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)Department Debates - View all Alec Shelbrooke's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Chris Elmore
My hon. Friend makes a point that I cannot disagree with. We work internationally every week and every day, I would argue, to lead on this front, both in terms of our humanitarian response and in relation to international law. We have led this work as penholder on the UN Security Council and will continue to challenge all partners in this space to hopefully bring about a peaceful resolution as well as prosecution through the international courts system to ensure that those who have committed those evil crimes will be brought to justice. We will keep doing that work internationally and multilaterally.
Sir Alec Shelbrooke (Wetherby and Easingwold) (Con)
Many Members will be aware of just how reluctant the FCDO always is to take action against any country. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran is a very good example—just look at how long that took. I know the Minister personally. I know his character; I know he is a good man. He has heard from parties across the House that something has to change. With the change in leadership coming in the Government, may I ask that he takes a step back from what the mandarins in the FCDO are saying to him and makes representations on behalf of this House to whoever is put into whichever position in the new Government? Will he reflect the comments he has heard, as a Minister listening to this House, about the UAE and the flow of money and arms, and override what often is a theoretical intellectual argument made by the mandarins in the FCDO?
Chris Elmore
The right hon. Gentleman knows how much I care about this place and the Members who serve in it. I always listen to and take seriously what Members say, regardless of politics or party. The current Prime Minister has led from the front with the Foreign Secretary and the previous Foreign Secretary—the now Deputy Prime Minister—in making sure that Sudan stays on the international agenda. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that as the transition takes place to the new Prime Minister, I will make sure that the views of the House are fed in as part of foreign policy work and more broadly. As Ministers, we should listen to what all Members tell us and ensure that we update the House and are accountable to it—and I hope he knows that I am always happy to do that.