It was International Development questions yesterday. Former Shadow Cabinet member Nigel Evans (right) posed a question on AIDS in Africa. This issue has been given prominence recently following the Pope's assertion that condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse. Mr Evans asked: "Antiretroviral drugs are rightly being made more affordable and generally more available, thanks to […]
Andrew Mitchell MP is shadow international development secretary and has just returned from a visit to Israel, Palestine and the Gaza border. He writes about his experiences here. Last week, as the dust began to settle after three weeks of Israeli military action in Gaza, I flew to Israel and the Palestinian Territories to see […]
There are a number of intriguing written answers in the latest edition of Hansard. Shoreham & East Worthing MP (and Shadow Minister for Children) Tim Loughton uncovered some diplomatic buckpassing by the Government, through a question to the Olympics Minister: "To ask the Minister for the Olympics if she will invite the Dalai Lama to […]
Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow International Development Secretary, reflects on his visit to the UN climate change talks in Poznan and what the outcome of the talks means for the world’s poorest people. The world’s very poorest people are already being hit hard by the effects of climate change. For millions of poor people, the effects […]
Andrew Mitchell is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development I recently returned from a visit to Goma in the East of Democratic Republic of Congo to see for myself the desperate humanitarian situation on the ground. I crossed into Goma from Gisenyi in Rwanda – the contrast between the two towns could not be […]
Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, reflects on Project Umubano, the Conservative Party’s social action project in Rwanda. For two weeks this summer, 104 Conservative volunteers travelled to Rwanda to take part in the second year of Project Umubano, our international social action project. We kept ConservativeHome readers updated with a […]
As the Conservative Party’s Project Umubano gets underway, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP sends this moving update from Kigali. Our Project has got off to a great start. Remarkably, all of our volunteers arrived in Kigali safe and sound and pretty much on time on Saturday – together with all […]
Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, explains what the Party will be doing in Rwanda this year. Today, over 100 Conservative volunteers will come together in Rwanda for the start of Project Umubano 2008. They will continue the work started there by the Conservative Party last summer. The volunteers will focus […]
Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, argues that the West and the UN also bear responsibility for the lack of progress in Darfur. As the Olympic torch continues its controversial ‘long march’ towards Beijing, the placard-wielding demonstrators lining the route have a litany of concerns: political prisoners, falun gong, Tibet, Burma […]
William Hague MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, and Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, urge the international community to not squander the narrow window of opportunity that Mugabe’s exit will create. Four days after the presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe, its people still do not know who will lead their country. […]
Andrew Mitchell MP is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In the lush green jungles of Sierra Leone last week, I met British soldiers who are training one of the world’s least developed armies in the art of jungle warfare. I stood with British Officers on a narrow ridge high above the Guma Dam, […]
Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, argues, three years on from the Asian tsunami, that the world’s chaotic response to disasters is costing lives. Boxing Day 2004, the day of the Asian tsunami, was a day of hundreds of thousands of personal tragedies. Some images stick in the mind: camcorder footage […]
Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell yesterday announced plans for a scheme that would help UK health professionals spend time in the developing world, proposing to: Pay for Voluntary Services Overseas to organise year-long placements for up to 250 British health workers to work in a developing country. Pay towards the pension contributions of these […]
Andrew Mitchell MP is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and visited Internally Displaced People camps in Darfur twice last year. Later this week, thousands of campaigners in over 30 countries will gather in their countries’ capitals – including London – to call on their governments to take action on the Darfur conflict, often […]
Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, recently returned from the Kenya-Somalia border. Here he argues that as well as taking the fight to the pirates at sea, the root causes of the problem must be tackled. The terrifying ordeal last month of Captain Richard Phillips, the US seaman captured by pirates, has brought home […]