"My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, for securing this debate, and I appreciate the discussions that we have had in advance of it. Not only has she secured this debate but she has kept the western Balkans, particularly Bosnia, front of mind for all …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"I thank both noble Lords for their comments on the Statement made by my right honourable friend. I will try to deal with some of the questions that they raised; if I am not able to, I will follow up in writing.
"I am sure I did not mean to say that it is difficult to go to Israel, but even if I did say it, I am grateful for the helpful advice on that. I think the noble Lord knows what I meant, which is that this is a complex …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"The Government’s view, as I think the noble Baroness knows, is that we support the two- state solution. That is why we recognise Palestine. I know she is a long-standing critic of that position and I understand her scepticism, but that is the Government’s view, and we want to try …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"The Prime Minister has made it clear that this is not our war and that we will permit the use of our bases for defensive reasons only. That remains the position of the Government, and it has not changed...." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"My Lords, perhaps I can answer the question first. The noble Lord raised two issues in relation to Hezbollah; let me try to deal with those. We have made our position clear on Hezbollah. He takes the view that the only people who can deal with Hezbollah are Israel, but …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"I thank the noble Lord and pay tribute to his experience and track record in this area. On the question of the practical help that we should be offering to Lebanon and the Lebanese army, I am very happy to accept his challenge. If there are practical things we can …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"Let me try to deal with some of the points my noble friend has raised. Frankly, I would not want to single out a particular community as having made a greater contribution to this country than any other. But I absolutely recognise the contribution the Jewish community has made to …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"I do not want to take a doom-laden view on this, but the Prime Minister and the leaders of other countries have made very clear what the consequences of E1 going ahead will be. That is why we are against it, and that is why we have set our position …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech
"The Government do not support the prisoner payments, as I am sure the noble Lord knows, and we have addressed that issue directly with the Palestinian Authority, so we hope that that is not going to continue. On the wider point, though, I sense that what the noble Lord is …..." Lord Lemos - View Speech