Contributions
1,406 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaThe only point I would make about surprise is that President Erdoğan has, of course, threatened this on a number of occasions, and he has previous in relation to Afrin. This has…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaMy hon. Friend refers to the forcible repatriation of refugees, and clearly we would strongly oppose such a thing. I made it very clear to the right hon. Member for Islington…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI do not think we are into article 5 territory. We continue to support the SDF and the coalition. The principal intent here is the fight against Daesh, which is a clear and…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaMy right hon. Friend’s point is well made. I cannot give him that assurance because I am not the US, but I am sure his point will have been heard by our interlocutors. He refers…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI have alluded to our support for the humanitarian situation. I suspect I will be quizzed on this further when I appear before the Select Committee on International Development in…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaTurkey is a major NATO ally, and it is a good friend of this country. We have some leverage with Turkey, as a friend and as a partner, and my hon. Friend will understand that this…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaOf course, the SDF is part of the coalition against Daesh. I admire our Kurdish friends and partners enormously, and our posture has not changed at all. We are talking here about…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that. I disagree with his analogies, although we will be able to discuss that in some depth, perhaps when we have more time. The…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI am not sure which election the hon. Gentleman is referring to, but it certainly would not be the UK Government’s job to interfere in US elections, presidential or otherwise. He…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaWe do support the SDF, which is an important part of the coalition—it is clearly central to it. As I said in my earlier remarks, the worry is that this recent news, if it is…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI am grateful to the hon. Lady for that. She talks about being the best, but I think we probably are that. If we look at the sum total of our contribution to this, we see that it…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaYes, of course. My hon. Friend will be aware, because he knows how these things work, that those conversations happen all the time. There can be no room for confusion in the minds…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaYes, we are obviously responding to events and what we are being told, but the information available to us is that this is envisaged as being relatively modest. I have to say to…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaWe want to make sure that autocrats and demagogues are not dominant in this conflict. The hon. Gentleman talks as though action has been taken, but my understanding is that that…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaIt really is not for me to be an apologist for the US, but my hon. Friend needs to be a little bit careful about conflating the US and the UK in the way he has. That would be…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI think I can give that reassurance. As I said in response to an earlier question, we do not have boots on the ground. Let me be clear: that means we do not have combat soldiers…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI thank the hon. Lady for her comments. She serves with great distinction as chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. No doubt conversations will be had over the next few days…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaThe hon. Lady needs to help us to reassure Kurds in this country about the extent of what, as we understand it, is being proposed. This has been threatened before, so I suspect…08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaI do not know and I am not going to speculate.08 Oct 2019HANSARD US Troop Withdrawal from Northern SyriaThe hon. Gentleman will be aware that this particular matter is the subject of a great deal of work in the Departments of State that have responsibility for this policy area. A…08 Oct 2019