In yesterday’s Commons debate most Conservatives were united against the LibDem call for troops out by October – with the exception of Ken Clarke. Most Tories were also sceptical about the likely success of George W Bush’s troops surge – with the exception of Iain Duncan Smith who, like John McCain, had called for a […]
"Are We Seeing the Emergence of a New Anti-Islamist Intelligentsia?" That was the question that Michael Gove sought to answer at an event yesterday evening, organised by Peter Whittle and the New Culture Forum. During the evening he also disputed the idea that the Middle East Peace Process would lead to a reduction in Islamist […]
I received an email from a contact in the White House last week. They’d read William Hague’s response to President Bush’s announcement of extra troops and joked that it must have been written in concert with the Élysée Palace. Team Cameron won’t worry if Team Bush think little of the Tory leader. David Cameron’s advisers […]
ConservativeHome understands that Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox has been ordered to tone down his neoconservative views and row in behind William Hague’s line on the war in Iraq and the threat posed by Iran. Dr Fox, perhaps the most hawkish member of David Cameron’s team, has long argued that it would be irresponsible to […]
William Hague today: “We welcome the fact that new thinking has taken place in Washington, and we continue to hope that coalition efforts to bring stability to Iraq will be successful. However, we remain sceptical that sending additional troops will achieve the desired results. This is for several reasons: (1) Last year’s attempt to control Baghdad […]
The December survey of ConservativeHome readers revealed the smallest possible majority in favour of sending extra British and American troops to Iraq if they could bring peace. Last week David Cameron had agreed that extra US troops might be the right approach. Later today George W Bush is expected to announce a ‘surge’ in US […]
Interviewed on this morning’s Today programme the Conservative leader said that an increase in US troop deployments in Baghdad might be the right approach if it was part of a broader strategy to reconcile Iraq’s Sunni, Shia and Kurdish groups. President Bush is expected to announce a deployment surge next week. The report on the […]
Bruce Anderson gives a warm welcome to today’s interim report from the Conservative Party’s study group on security. The Independent’s Mr Anderson sees Dame Pauline Neville-Jones’ report as a bold attempt to consider Britain’s foreign, defence and security policies within the same context and, in future, to see that policy progressed under the direction of […]
It’s not often I find myself in complete agreement with The Guardian and the Liberal Democrats but I do today. The Blair government’s decision to stop the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into suspected Saudi/ BAe corruption is, as Oliver Kamm writes in today’s Times, the lowest of many low points of this Blair government. According […]
BBC Online is reporting that Government minister Margaret Hodge told a meeting of the Fabian Society that the Iraq war was Tony Blair’s "big mistake in foreign affairs". "I hope this isn’t going to be reported," she is said to have worried but the remarks are being reported and she is now denying having made […]
David Cameron has written for this morning’s Sunday Times, setting out his homeland security agenda: The Conservative leader promises a cabinet minister dedicated to homeland security but without a US-style department because, he writes, "that would cause far too much upheaval." There’ll also be a dedicated border police "to patrol every port and airport and […]
When I recently interviewed Australian Prime Minister John Howard for 18 Doughty Street Talk TV he was clear that the issues of ‘prosperity and security’ would be the two most important issues at his country’s next election and at future elections. We should listen to the world’s most successful conservative leader. As Labour plan their […]
“We congratulate the Iraqi courts on reaching a verdict in such difficult circumstances, and the bravery shown by judges and witnesses in the face of severe violence and intimidation. It is important that Saddam Hussein faces justice for his crimes, for the sake of both his many victims and of the future of Iraq and […]
This morning The Treasury isn’t unveiling a report detailing the likely impact on international energy prices of Iran becoming a nuclear power with the potential to hold the world to ransom. There is no sub-section of any report detailing the economic and ecological impact of Iran firing a battlefield nuclear weapon against Israel. Former US […]
The headline of this post – or something very like it – appeared on the front page of The Guardian, earlier this week. ‘Neither the guts to rule nor the guts to quit’ captures the current policy of Bush and Blair in Iraq. We’re caught in some sort of no-man’s land between doing something to […]