Syria: Foreign Affairs Committee Report Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Dobbs
Main Page: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Dobbs's debates with the Leader of the House
(9 years ago)
Lords ChamberI am very grateful to my noble friend for his comments, particularly because of the remarks he prefaced them with about his views on the war in Iraq.
My Lords, may I nudge my noble friend very gently on this issue of the position of Assad, which has come up in many comments this morning? Up to this point, the British Government have been absolutely clear that this is black and white and that they will not under any circumstances talk to Assad. Yet in this search for peace and stability in Syria, diplomatic solutions occasionally require us to get our hands dirty. I listened very carefully to the Statement this morning, which said that we are,
“working towards the transition to a new government in Syria”,
and,
“ultimately Assad must go”.
That sounded to me as if we were being rather more flexible on the matter of talking with Assad. If that is the case, I suggest to my noble friend that many of us would welcome that flexibility.