Member of Parliament for South Shields

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SPEECH AT THE EID RECEPTION

EID Reception
Durbar Court
Foreign Office
London
16th October 2007

The first thing to say tonight is Asalam Alaykum. You are all very welcome tonight. It is truly remarkable to be here in Durbar Court. Let me tell you something about this place: This court, which in a way bridges the four different buildings which make up the Foreign Office; the historic Foreign Office, the old India Office and the old Colonial Office and the old War Office, surround this courtyard here. And I think it is really wonderful that we can celebrate the future of Britain, not just as a multicultural society but as a country that has roots and links right around the world, and the fact that we are able to do that here today really gives me a lot of pride and a lot of pleasure.

I am joined tonight by Hazel Blears, who is the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and will say a few words later; Shahid Malik, our esteemed colleague from the Department of National Development is here, it is great that he is here tonight.

It seems especially appropriate, given where we are to say that; the challenges and the dangers the world faces; dangers of religious extremism, dangers of global inequality; dangers of climate change; dangers of nuclear proliferation; they need all of humanity in all of its diversity to come together to address them, because those challenges that I describe are shared challenges for the whole of our planet.

No one can opt out of confronting the difficulties of religious extremism; no one can opt out of climate change; no one can opt out of the dangers of nuclear proliferation and no one should opt out of facing the challenges of global inequality. Part of the purpose of today is to recognise a kind of paradox, because on the one hand we cannot confront these challenges without recognising the benefits that come from our diversity both within our country and around the world. But at the same time we have to be honest that the diversity that we have can fragment and place challenges in front of us as we try to confront these challenges. And I think we should be honest about that. But I think we should also be honest that the diversity that is represented in this room can only come together in a set of shared institutions and shared activities that allow us to show our common humanity.

At a cabinet committee this morning, chaired by the Prime Minister, we were talking about the shared activities and the shared institutions in Britain and around the world that express our common humanity.

In Britain shared institutions are everything from the places we work - and I am glad that the Foreign Office is a more diverse institution than it used to be. But we want to become more diverse still - the sport that we do together and that we enjoy together; the community life; the university life that we enjoy together. We need to make sure that those shared activities and those shared institutions do embody and include, but for an organisation like this we also have to look globally as well as at the UK and many of the great institutional questions we  face come down to a very simple choice. Do we believe that we can bridge the differences between us or do we believe that the differences are so great that we cannot work together?

And just to give one example that may seem a long way from the discussions that we have got today. We have a great debate in the European Union, not about the reform treaty that is getting all the coverage in the newspapers. The great debate in the European Union is actually whether a country like Turkey, 95, 98 per cent Muslim can find its home in the European Union. I passionately believe that the European Union has to be an organisation that can include people, irrespective of their race, religion and creed, and bridging the regional divides seems to me to be a foundational purpose of an organisation like the European Union. The debate in Britain about Turkish membership is different to the debate in other countries. Some countries are still debating whether a country with 95, 98 percent Muslims can join the European Union. I think we have come to terms with that. The reason I think is that many of the people brought together in this room are in their daily lives are sending out a message that what unites us is far greater than what divides us. And I think that is a really important thing for the UK at the moment.

I’ll just finish on the following point. A hundred years ago, even fifty years ago the Empire was run basically from this building and its gone. It is never coming back. We have therefore got a choice. Is the consequence of the end of Empire that Britain looks inwards, that Britain says that the end of Empire means the end of our global role, our global responsibility Or do we say that the great thing about Britain is that it is open to the world, is engaged with the world, and is a force for good in the world. I think we can make ourselves, never again the biggest, never again an Empire, but a place where people and ideas and culture come and meet; where great debates of the world include us. I think that is a really important part of our role at a modern Foreign Office; not running the world but using the global hub that is represented in this room; the roots and links that we have around the world, to make sure that we are a force for values, not just of tolerance but of respect and equality and social justice. In that we are not only advancing our own interests but also advancing a set of global interests.

So I feel very proud to be here tonight; delighted that so many of you have been able to come a join us, from all walks of life, from all parts of the United Kingdom. You are very, very welcome here because this has got be an institution that serves you all as British citizens and British residents that want to make the most of your lives here.