Lord Bates
Main Page: Lord Bates (Conservative - Life peer)
Lord Bates
My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Ford. I pay tribute to her and all the work that she has done in making the legacy of the London Games something of which we can all be proud, which will live on in the lives of the people of east London for generations to come. She has made an amazing contribution, as have many Members of this House, including my noble friend Lord Coe; the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, in the Paralympics; my noble friend Lord Moynihan in the British Olympic Association; and the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, on the GLA’s Olympic committee. As well as showcasing all that is good about Britain, it also showcases all that is good about this House, which we ought to find encouraging.
Before I encourage my noble friend and the Government to go, in the sporting tradition, further, faster and higher on the Olympic Truce, I place my remarks firmly in the context of my noble friend’s opening speech. She absolutely set out the stall for what has been achieved, which is quite phenomenal. We are all very proud of the way that this has been delivered on the sporting, commercial and construction sides. They are all things in which we can take a great deal of pride.
I first raised the Olympic Truce in your Lordships’ House in another “take note” debate on 14 June 2010. I did so for three reasons. First, the Olympic Truce is not just part of the ancient Olympic Games; it was the entire point of the ancient Olympic Games. They were not about sporting competition and they certainly were not about legacy or commercial activity. They were about putting a brake on the constant fighting in the Peloponnese. That was the purpose of the Games. It was expressed through the Olympic Truce, which at that point was a sacred truce. I want to make sure that we remember what the Games were about and what their inspiration was.
Secondly, the Olympic Truce today is not just some general “motherhood and apple pie” notion that surrounds the Games. It is something more than that. It is a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. It is a resolution that is proposed by the Government who host the Games. Therefore, as this was the first resolution that the coalition Government presented to the United Nations General Assembly, it should be taken seriously. In ancient times the truce was sacred; in modern times it has become rather symbolic. This is a great opportunity for us to remember what it is about.
Thirdly and finally, particularly since the torch has now arrived in the UK, I take slight issue with our having broken the tradition of allowing it to be carried through different countries on an international relay for the first time. The torch heralds the Olympic Truce. When you are heralding an international truce, it is helpful if you visit other countries on the way. I feel that it was a missed opportunity to run the torch relay up through the Balkans—which have known great pain and sadnesses and still have great tensions—across the battlefields of the First World War and the Second World War, and the front line of the Cold War, and then bring it to London so that we can remember. I realise that these decisions were taken many years ago. None the less, I wanted to say that.
I want to reflect a little on what has happened in the intervening two years. There has been some movement and I pay tribute to people for that. Just 10 days ago, my noble friend Lord Moynihan and I had the great privilege to be in Olympia when the Olympic flame was lit. As it was lit, the president of the International Olympic Committee said:
“We have come to the ancestral home of the Olympic Movement to light a flame that will soon cast its glow over the entire world … It is a beacon for the Olympic values of friendship, excellence and respect. It is a symbol of fellowship and peace. In recognition of those values, the United Nations has unanimously approved a resolution calling on nations to build a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”.
That is what the president of the IOC set out as the purpose of this flame and these Games. I fully understand the reasons why those decisions had to be taken after the disruption of the torch relay for the Beijing Games. However, I do not think that sporting prowess is demonstrated by anything other than courage. Someone setting out to disrupt the proceedings should not cause us to drop the relay—it should cause us to reaffirm its purposes.
This campaign on the Olympic Truce took a little while to get going. However, I was delighted when my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said:
“We wish to make the most of that historic opportunity, we are considering other international initiatives to promote the spirit of the truce … the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is engaging with our embassies worldwide”.—[Official Report, Commons, 29/6/11; col. 953.]
It has been truly fantastic to see that going into operation.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and embassies around the world have embraced the ideal of the Olympic Truce for London 2012 in a way which is quite inspirational and absolutely consistent with its values. That is due to the leadership of the Minister, Henry Bellingham, who has responsibility for the matter. We hear a lot about the Minister for the Olympics. The Olympic Truce is an important element of this role and Henry Bellingham has done an outstanding job of promoting it.
The UK mission to the United Nations also managed to pull off one of the all-time records in international relations. Not only did it promote the Olympic Truce resolution, it also managed to get all 193 member states of the United Nations to sign up to it before presenting it on 17 October 2011. The UK mission even went one better and got everyone to cosponsor it, which was a phenomenal achievement. In terms of international relations and the Olympics, it is at least on a par with some of the other wonderful things that we have seen about legacy, construction and sport.
We need to hear more about the Olympic Truce, because it has been achieved in such a fantastic way. Resolution A/66/L.3 represents a mandate and an international consensus. Its long preamble runs on for three pages. Bless the Foreign Office for ensuring that every line is there and every interest is represented. Essentially, however, the preamble comes down to two things. First, it urges the member states which have signed up to the truce to observe it individually and collectively for the period of the 30th Olympic and 14th Paralympic Games. Secondly, it calls on the member states that signed up to it to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the Olympic Games.
Those statements are unambiguous. No one can say, “We didn’t know what we were signing up to. We don’t know whether we can implement it”. They have signed up to it. What is more, Her Majesty’s Government have proposed it to the United Nations General Assembly. That places on us a particular responsibility to ensure that it is implemented. Not surprisingly, after the news that it had been fully supported by all 193 member states, my noble friend Lord Coe, who was presenting the truce resolution on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, said:
“It has never been more important to support this General Assembly resolution by actions, not just through words”.
That was what my noble friend the Prime Minister was saying when he said that this represented a “historic opportunity”.
There are still two months to go before the Olympic Games actually start. Where do we stand now? Well, we perhaps stand a little bit too much on the words, which have been excellent and encouraging and are coming in every day, with various statements of how much the resolution is welcome and how much people believe in the Olympic Truce and the Olympic ideal. We are just a little short on the actions. Not that there have not been any. A cross-departmental Olympic Truce committee is now operating, which is taking advice from our excellent NGOs working in conflict areas around the world to see what can be done. There is even an Olympic Truce officer in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office—and, as the Foreign Secretary said, have you any idea how difficult it is to get additional headcount into the Foreign Office for an initiative? That is something else to be welcomed.
About 32 countries have registered particular schemes relating to the Olympic Truce, from Sudan to Sarajevo, Costa Rica and the Philippines. However, there is still much more that can be done to build on this extraordinary and unique historic opportunity and international consensus. If we achieve this and for the first time in the modern era the Olympic Truce is taken seriously, that will be a legacy to hand on to Rio. We can say, “Listen, you go further, faster and higher in implementing the ancient ideal that is the entire purpose of the Games”.