Counter-Daesh Update

James Morris Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I completely share the frustration that the hon. Gentleman has expressed about the role of Russia. We were on track, with the potential for a political settlement that could have removed Assad and meant the people of Syria did not have to suffer from someone who was prepared to use chemical weapons against his own people to impose his bloody rule. However, the Russians then intervened in the process, and it now looks as though Assad is here to stay, to put it very bluntly, so I think the Russians have to take responsibility for the way in which they have changed the situation. Like us, they have a veto at the Security Council, and we cannot stop them exercising that veto. What we can do is to support the work of UN special envoy Geir Pedersen, who has just started and will I think do a very good job. We hope that he can find a way forward, but we do not underestimate the challenges.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, and I particularly welcome the progress that has been made on degrading Daesh. Does he agree with me that the continued influence of Russia and Iran in Syria and across the middle east actually presents the biggest threat to the rules-based international order that we have seen for a long time and that Britain needs to redouble our efforts to try to rebuild that rules-based international order over the long term?

[Mr Hunt]

I absolutely do agree with that. I think we have to be aware of the limits of our power and of the mistakes that we have made in our own foreign policy over the years in the middle east. As a new Foreign Secretary, I am very conscious that this is not an area of the world that someone can come to understand quickly, so we need some humility as we approach policy in this area. He is right, however, that one of the challenges we have is the involvement of Russia, which has become a more influential player in the region, and we should also say that about the activities of Iran. Taken together, these do present real risks to stability in the region of which we need to be aware.