Middle East and North Africa

Robert Jenrick Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Robert Jenrick (Newark) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) for leading today’s debate. There have been many fine contributions and as time is short I will confine my remarks to one aspect that has not been spoken about in detail: the security situation in Jordan, a country that I know well having travelled there many times on business in my former life. In fact, I was there the day my predecessor resigned as a Member of Parliament, and I had to return quickly to fight the subsequent by-election.

As many hon. Members appreciate, many people in Jordan and throughout the wider region, particularly in Israel, where I also have friends and contacts, are concerned to ensure that Jordan receives the full support of this country, the US and the US’s allies around the world at a dangerous and unpredictable time in its history. I share the concern of many in the region who believe that the US Government have been missing in action as ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, has taken over much of Syria and Iraq. I find that very disturbing and worrying. As the terrorist organisation now turns its sights on such an important ally of ourselves and the west, the Kingdom of Jordan, neither we nor the US can afford to continue to ignore it. This debate poses a good opportunity for me to raise some of the issues that I have heard from colleagues and friends in Jordan and to bring some of the questions to the Minister’s attention.

No doubt the Minister will soon have access to far greater intelligence than I do, but people I have spoken to in Jordan do not seem to think that there is an immediate threat from ISIS or its equivalent of a military offensive, but they are extremely concerned about the potential for terrorist attacks to occur and increase, with a destabilising effect throughout the kingdom.

Before the by-election, I spoke to the Jordanian defence Minister. The Jordanian armed forces seem to be competent, generally non-sectarian and broadly loyal to King Abdullah. They train extensively, as hon. Members will know, with US forces, and receive $300 million in annual US military assistance; there is also some assistance from the United Kingdom. Jordan’s armour and air power seem to be adequate to secure its relatively short 112-mile border with Iraq, and it has gone to a great deal of trouble to fortify its positions along the frontier with Syria. I would be interested to hear the Government’s assessment of the security of that border.

The most pressing concern is that ISIS will establish a support base in Jordan of men capable of and committed to terrorist attacks. From 2002 to 2005, Jordan experienced a series of terrorist attacks, and I was in Amman during one of them. They were perpetrated by a predecessor of ISIS, al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group led by a Jordanian national, Abu Musabal-Zarqawi. I have seen a YouTube video that I would recommend to hon. Members, although it is not pleasant to watch. It was posted in April and sadly is still available on YouTube. It shows Jordanian ISIS members now fighting in Iraq shred and burn their passports. The jihadists, one of whom is seen wearing an explosive belt, describe King Abdullah as despotic,

“a worshipper of the English”,

vowing to “slaughter” him. This is not a light matter but is taken seriously in Jordan. In 2013, Jordan spent some $1.3 billion, nearly 13% of its entire budget, on internal homeland security and national defence. It will continue to do so. The majority is provided by US aid.

The question for this debate is what more can the UK Government do to assist Jordan in the years ahead, particularly with the urgent concerns in the present climate.

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend’s knowledge of Jordan is very valuable. Does he agree that perhaps one issue involving the Palestinian state could be solved if Jordan were a Palestinian state, given that it was originally part of Palestine in 1921, and even after 1948 the then King of Jordan described himself as the King of Jordan and Palestine?

[Robert Jenrick]

We have had a good and productive relationship with Jordan for many years. Clearly, if Jordan had taken a more decisive role in running those territories, the position today would be different.

On what we as a country can do and what I would like the Government to do to try to help in Jordan, the first question that my contacts in Jordan raise with me is how can we better enable Jordan to counter military Islamist inroads. Primarily, that is a task for the US, but we have a role to play, part of which is economic support. Jordan is often—inaccurately—thought to be a wealthy country, but parts of it are under-served or economically depressed and there are restive regions that, being economically depressed, tend to become fertile ground for Islamist terrorists. There is certainly a role in encouraging the US, our allies and the key regional allies such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE to increase their financial contributions. Many commentators have asked whether the UK and the US could convene a conference for friends of Jordan, or something along those lines to encourage the monarchy’s western friends and regional allies to contribute more and to ensure greater rapid economic development.

[Bob Stewart]

I lived in Jordan when I was a boy, in the valley where David killed Goliath, as a matter of record. One of the biggest problems that Jordan faces is that almost half the population seem to have come in as refugees. It is a huge economic problem for this country that is so pro-west.

[Robert Jenrick]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The difference in terms of development and western views between an area such as Oman and some of those areas with heavy immigrant populations is dramatic and not seen by most business travellers to the region.

The second area I want to touch on is whether the kingdom would benefit from expanded training in counter-insurgency warfare and in detecting improvised explosive devices.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

I had the opportunity recently to look at the refugee situation in Jordan, as part of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. One thing the Jordanians were saying to us is that although they have been extremely generous in welcoming, helping and absorbing refugees, they are concerned about the amount of aid coming, not from the UK and US so much, but from other countries that have not given as much as they should. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Foreign Office could pressure our allies and friends who have a lot to say about the area into doing more and putting their hands in their pockets to help in a practical way?

[Robert Jenrick]

Very much so; I echo those comments. The UK has been very generous, as have the US and Saudi Arabia, but many other countries in the world, particularly other European allies of ours, could and should be giving far more. That is a practical role that the UK could play in supporting Jordan.

Returning to my point about counter-insurgency, having spoken to those active in the defence world in Jordan, it seems that the US and the UK could play a greater role in providing counter-insurgency training, and detecting IEDs has been specifically mentioned to me. That is something the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence could look into and work with the US on.

My third point is that until Baghdad regains control of its western border, the UK and the US should encourage Jordan to continue aggressive counter-border actions against ISIS. The US has, perhaps controversially, deployed drones over Baghdad to defend the US embassy. I think the Obama Administration should consider moving armed, unmanned air assets over western Iraq to help Jordan establish some form of no-drive area along the Jordanian border to prevent further incursions by ISIS. That could be a bolder move for the UK to push with its US counterparts.

We should be in no doubt that ISIS and its equivalents have the desire and the potential to create a great deal of domestic instability in Jordan, perhaps more than in many other parts of the region, which will no doubt be discussed in the remainder of this debate. In Jordan, there is the potential for this country to act, given Jordan’s size, its relatively short borders and our good relationships with the country. It is somewhere we can get involved productively and successfully and use our strong diplomatic links to have a successful outcome. The pro-west regime in Oman is, in my opinion, too valuable to us, the US and the west to leave things to chance, as perhaps we have over the course of the last year in Iraq.