British Embassy (Tehran)

Chris Bryant Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I have just been reminded that the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) is a learned and well-read fellow.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

No he is not—Division.

[Mr Speaker]

I do not know that anyone is as learned or well read as the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant).

[Chris Bryant]

The Foreign Secretary referred to bellicose words. What counts as bellicose words in Iran is rather different from what counts as bellicose words from a Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons. I worry about the tone that the right hon. Gentleman has adopted today. I noted that on the radio a couple of weeks ago he refused to rule out military intervention. Will he do so today?

[Mr Hague]

No. I always say that all options remain on the table, but I always make it clear, as did the previous Government, that we are not advocating military action against Iran. Our position is the same as that of the previous British Government—the hon. Gentleman was a Foreign Office Minister in that Government—and the same as that of France, Germany and the United States. It is a united international position, and we continue to adhere to the one to which he subscribed.