Member of Parliament for South Shields
Interviews
European Reform Treaty
BBC Today Programme
5th March 2008
James Naughtie: The Commons will decide today whether or not there will be a referendum on the European Reform Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty. Government says it's not necessary because the Treaty is no longer a constitution on which a referendum would have been justified. The Conservatives say it is a constitution in all but name and that there should be a national vote. The Liberal Democrats, who could put the Government in real peril if they joined the Tories in the voting lobbies, are abstaining though there may be some rebels. We heard from their Leader, Nick Clegg, earlier in the programme and he reaffirmed the abstention pledge.
So let's hear the argument. The Foreign Secretary David Miliband is in the radio car. The Conservative's Foreign Affairs Spokesman William Hague is at Westminster.
Good morning to you both.
David Miliband: Good morning.
William Hague: Good morning.
James Naughtie: Mr Hague what is it that convinces you that despite the changes made to this Treaty it is still a constitution in all but name?
Latest Interviews
British Troops In Iraq
BBC Radio 4
28th August 2007
Interviewer:
Two points raised by General Keane there and they're typical of some of the points raised publicly and semi publicly by many American visitors recently. One, that things in Basra would get worse if British troops left, withdrew gradually. Secondly, that at the moment it's not working. How do you react to this tide of criticism that we've seen recently?
Foreign Secretary:
Well I think that the most important point is that British troops and other Coalition troops around Iraq first have very clear objectives, secondly have very clear criteria for meeting those objectives and thirdly a very clear command structure, and I hope I can just go through those three points with you.
The objective is to make sure that Iraq is run by the Iraqis, not just the eleven million Iraqis who turned out to vote in an election for a Government but also an Iraq security force that's able to provide security for local people. The criteria for that are very clear, that we want to make sure that as we change the deployment of our forces we have Iraqi forces in place with the deployment, the intelligence, the capabilities to take our place.
And third we have a very clear command structure. These decisions are not taken by sitting in a radio car in London, they're taken by force commanders on the ground, British force commanders in charge of their own forces working very closely with other Coalition forces together. So this is a joint decision.
And what's happened, just to fill out the point about the South which General Keane mentioned, of the four provinces in the South three have already been turned over to Iraqi control. In Muthanna, in Dhi...
Foreign Policy And The Importance Of Pakistan
BBC Today Programme
27th July 2007
Evan Davis: David Miliband has been Foreign Secretary for almost exactly a month. In that time most of the foreign policy scrutiny has been on the relationship with the United States but it's conspicuous that his first big trip outside of Europe has been the one he's now returning from to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It reflects the sense of nervousness about that region. There have been warnings that we might have to stay in Afghanistan for decades and in Pakistan the West's ally President Musharraf is in a constant struggle for authority.
Well I spoke to the Foreign Secretary who was in Islamabad yesterday afternoon and first I put it to him that President Musharraf faces a dilemma of losing support in Pakistan by helping the West's battle against terrorism.
David Miliband: I don't accept that that's the choice because Pakistani citizens in Pakistan want to see terrorism tackled and extremism tackled and remember Pakistani visitors to the UK could easily find themselves caught up in terrorist incidents as well because the people why try to plant bombs in the UK don't discriminate between the race or the religion of the people they affect. So I think it's important to give the message back that I've just come from a meeting of the Pakistani Youth Parliament, there was no question there among the people there that they want to see what they call 'enlightened moderation' that they want to see extremism tackled. There are different views about the way, ways to do it among the, the students and the, the young people. But I think that we shouldn't fall for the trap of thinking that there's a choice for countries like Pakistan between looking West to us or looking to their own people.