Contributions
1,178 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI agree wholeheartedly. I think that it is a terrible mistake when people misjudge the atrocities that organisations such as Daesh are capable of just because they happen to share…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI am happy to reassure my hon. Friend that our commitment to that part of the world is for the long term. Our military commitment is finite—it is restricted to the mandate given…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateWe do understand that Turkey, too, has a right to territorial integrity, but we are very concerned about what might happen with regard to the issue the hon. Gentleman raises if…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI am slightly perplexed, Mr Speaker, but someone will enlighten me about your pearls of wisdom. I think what my hon. Friend says is worthy of serious reflection. The truth is that…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI will happily take that away. My understanding is that we have excellent co-operation with the IDF, and there are always things we can learn from working with other organisations…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateMy understanding is that the number of people from the UK trying to join Daesh to fight has fallen significantly, but I will write to my hon. Friend with the most up-to-date…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateThis was exactly the topic that my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East talked about when he met President Salih and Prime Minister Mahdi on his recent visit to…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI absolutely do agree with that. I think we have to be aware of the limits of our power and of the mistakes that we have made in our own foreign policy over the years in the…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI thank my hon. Friend for his comments. First, in terms of the courage of people who have been fighting in Syria, there is one group that we have not mentioned so far, and that…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. He speaks of some very important issues. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that reconciliation has to be central. Sometimes that…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateMy right hon. Friend of course speaks with great wisdom on this because he was responsible for a lot of the training of overseas armies that makes precisely that strategy…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI believe that over 14,000 Syrian refugees have come to the UK. We should also pay tribute to neighbouring countries such as Iraq, which has 250,000 Syrian refugees. That is an…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateMy hon. Friend makes an important point. We are helping to train the Peshmerga at the moment. My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa was in Baghdad…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateMr Speaker, with permission, I will update the House on the campaign against Daesh, one of the most brutal and depraved terrorist organisations the world has ever seen. Since…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateMy hon. Friend is right; our first intention is that they should be tried in Iraq if it is possible to get justice for them in Iraq, and there is no reason why it should not be,…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI completely share the frustration that the hon. Gentleman has expressed about the role of Russia. We were on track, with the potential for a political settlement that could have…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateWe are looking at that plan very closely, and we are talking to our allies in the United States about it. We understand the strategic reason why President Trump wants to withdraw…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateI thank the right hon. Gentleman for asking that question. He is right that unless we are able to demonstrate justice for these atrocities, we will not persuade people that as a…11 Feb 2019HANSARDCounter-Daesh UpdateFirst, I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her questions. I will do my best to answer them as clearly as I can. I apologise for the fact that we did not keep the…11 Feb 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy colleague the Minister for Africa is not with us today, as she is meeting partners from the African Union. At that meeting, she will be underlining our concern about the issues…22 Jan 2019