Few Tory MPs attending constituency events nowadays avoid being buttonholed – often by the most Conservative-minded person present – and harangued about the government’s stance on overseas aid. Not so long ago we were typically being swamped by campaign emails imploring government to commit 0.7% of GDP to overseas aid. These days the usual line is: I am appalled that the government is increasing the aid budget while cutting elsewhere. Why are we giving money to the likes of India, which has a space programme, and African countries, where the fruits .
Mark is currently the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Azerbaijan and in Whitsun recess, led a delegation of MPs and members of the House of Lords to Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital city. The UK is the largest Western investor in Azerbaijan and the APPG is keen to strengthen relations between our two nations. Whilst Azerbaijan is known primarily for its reserves of oil and gas, the... .
The battle to restore trust and credibility in the Middle East
The violent death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of US forces on the first day of the month in some respects neatly closes the final chapter of a decade-long story. Journalistic speculation aside, it is impossible yet to grasp the wider consequences. Bin Laden’s potency may for some years have been symbolic rather than operational. But his death provides an equally symbolic victory to the United States as a pictorial counterpart to the iconic image of passenger jets piercing the Twin Towers. .
Mark appeared on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Westminster Hour’ programme last night and in the course of his interview with Carolyn Quinn he spoke about the enforcement of a No-Fly Zone by UN forces in Libya. The following is an expanded version of his views…
Few would confidently predict the outcome of events in Egypt. The twin effects of 24/7 media coverage and the fact that so many Britons of all age groups have been tourists to that country brings into sharper focus the unfolding drama on the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Many Western politicians have traded platitudes about the need to promote democratic reform. The stark truth is that the authoritarian President Mubarak has for these past 29 years been a puppet of Western governments, which have turned a blind eye to his internal repression for so long as Egypt has remained a loyal trading partner
Few Tory MPs attending constituency events nowadays avoid being buttonholed – often by the most Conservative-minded person present – and harangued about the government’s stance on overseas aid. Not so long ago we were typically being swamped by campaign emails imploring government to commit 0.7% of GDP to overseas aid. These days the usual line is: I am appalled that the government is increasing the aid budget while cutting elsewhere. Why are we giving money to the likes of India, which has a space programme, and African countries, where the fruits .
Mark is currently the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Azerbaijan and in Whitsun recess, led a delegation of MPs and members of the House of Lords to Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital city. The UK is the largest Western investor in Azerbaijan and the APPG is keen to strengthen relations between our two nations. Whilst Azerbaijan is known primarily for its reserves of oil and gas, the... .
Mark appeared on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Westminster Hour’ programme last night and in the course of his interview with Carolyn Quinn he spoke about the enforcement of a No-Fly Zone by UN forces in Libya. The following is an expanded version of his views…
Few would confidently predict the outcome of events in Egypt. The twin effects of 24/7 media coverage and the fact that so many Britons of all age groups have been tourists to that country brings into sharper focus the unfolding drama on the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Many Western politicians have traded platitudes about the need to promote democratic reform. The stark truth is that the authoritarian President Mubarak has for these past 29 years been a puppet of Western governments, which have turned a blind eye to his internal repression for so long as Egypt has remained a loyal trading partner
