Brexit Negotiations
Debate between Boris Johnson and Lord Bellingham(5 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)
May I congratulate the Prime Minister on his statesmanship, and indeed ingenuity, in delivering an offer that is serious and credible? If my email is anything to go by, there is huge support in my constituency.
May I take the Prime Minister to paragraph 1b of the protocol note, which makes it clear that 100% of these unique areas of collaboration will continue? Will he find time to ring the Taoiseach and tell him that there are going to be many areas for collaboration on community projects and on pushing enterprise, investment and wealth creation on both sides of the border?
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend. I talked to the Taoiseach last night and expect to be talking to him quite a lot in the days to come. I will certainly make that point to him as well. It is something we have already discussed.
Zimbabwe
Debate between Boris Johnson and Lord Bellingham(7 years, 1 month ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Boris Johnson
Clearly, there is a great opportunity here for the international community to come together, perhaps under United Nations auspices, to ensure there are free and fair elections. We will be making sure the UK Government are in the lead, as we would expect, in ensuring that the people of Zimbabwe have that opportunity.
Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)
Does the Foreign Secretary agree that this could be the beginning of the end of one of the most flawed regimes the world has ever seen? Does he also agree that the key priority, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) has just pointed out, is having a pathway to free and fair elections? Also, what is going to be done to try to recover the many billions of dollars stolen by Mugabe and his cronies?
Boris Johnson
The first priority is free and fair elections, and then to get the Zimbabwean economy back on its feet so that the great natural potential of that country can be unleashed. That should, I am afraid, come before any attempt to take back huge sums from a country that is already in the throes of bankruptcy.
Counter-Daesh Campaign: Iraq and Syria
Debate between Boris Johnson and Lord Bellingham(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
I call John Redwood. [Interruption.] It is very unusual for him not to be here—[Interruption.] He was here, indeed. I call Sir Henry Bellingham.
Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)
The crimes committed by Daesh, including crimes against children, and hangings and crucifixions, are beyond brutal and horrendous. What more can be done to use UK expertise to help to bring those people to justice? Has my right hon. Friend discussed the matter with the Department for International Development in terms of funding specialist teams?
Boris Johnson
My hon. Friend raises an extremely good point. As I mentioned to the House a few weeks ago and repeated just now, the UK has launched a campaign, working with our partners, to bring to justice the Daesh terrorists, the perpetrators of violence and crimes against humanity. As I said before, the mills of justice grind slowly but they grind small. We are assembling the evidence, supporting NGOs in the gathering of evidence and working with our partners to establish exactly what legal mechanism would be most suited to bringing those people to justice.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Boris Johnson and Lord Bellingham(8 years, 2 months ago)
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Boris Johnson
The reality is that no such proposal can conceivably be made to work in the absence of a cessation of hostilities by the Russians and the Assad regime. That is the precondition. A durable and convincing ceasefire must be delivered by the Assad regime before any such proposal can conceivably be made to work.
Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)