Close This site uses cookies. If you continue to use the site you agree to this. For more details please see our cookies policy.

Search

Type your text, and hit enter to search:

A staggering abdication of leadership

We need a government with a credible foreign and defence policy. The atrocities being carried out in Iraq by Islamic State, the conflict and rising tensions in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, are just the latest examples to expose the void in government thinking. The abdication of leadership is staggering.

The United Nations estimates that around 30,000 people, followers of the Yazidi faith, are still trapped on Sinjar Mountain, where they scrambled to escape slaughter from fanatics who despise their religion. Thousands of Christians – and Muslims too – have also had to flee their homes rather than face execution. The ancient order of the Middle East, where minorities coexisted and lived in communities ages old, is being swept away and, as Douglas Alexander has highlighted recently, in the case of Iraq this is happening in a bloody and violent fashion. Tensions have been rising further in Ukraine over a controversial aid convoy, while battles – representing the next chapter in Russia’s power games – and the civil war there continue.

The government’s response has been reactive and well behind events. The rise of Islamic State cannot have been a complete surprise given its role in Syria as that conflict evolved. Perhaps the government hoped the problem would go away. It has not. David Cameron may be on top of his brief on foreign affairs but that counts for little if he does not exercise some leadership or if he is incompetent when he does. The coalition defence policy is now even further discredited, as we look to move more forces to Nato’s eastern borders and now are deploying forces in and over Iraq once more, all with a military we are still depleting. Little is said about encouraging a durable peace in the Middle East. We really do seem to be echoing the Baldwin years, reluctant to face the reality of a worsening international situation while recovering from economic depression.

Yet the United Kingdom has a duty, with others, to take a bigger lead in the international response to security and humanitarian concerns, for a number of reasons. These include the urgent requirement to help people in need, the risk of terrorism at home, and our responsibilities that come with being a permanent member of the UN Security Council and leading nation in Nato and the European Union.

Despite initial assurances that we would avoid military intervention in Iraq, we are now dropping aid to refugees, reportedly making refuelling available for United States aircraft, sending ‘reconnaissance’ Tornados and considering providing Chinook helicopters to provide aid or evacuate people. That represents quite a commitment already, in terms of logistical support and people involved, and there is a real risk of mission creep. That is not to say that military intervention would be unjustified (if we support recent US action we have accepted its necessity anyway), simply that we ought to be clear about what the UK is doing and why. If we are able to help stop slaughter, we should – taking lessons from the west’s regret at not doing more to stop genocide in Rwanda and massacres in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and learning from the terrible errors of the Iraq war.

The first move should be a huge increase in humanitarian assistance. Any direct use of force would be a big step. Force should only ever be used in the last resort, within a moral framework for morally justifiable aims, and when it is clearly the lesser of evils, since it is a matter of life and death and comes with great risks. It should pass key tests, as I highlighted in the recent case of Syria.

While the coalition yet again scrambles to revise its defence policy on the fly, Labour should also do some work. Recent developments need to be factored into our shadow defence review. This needs to incorporate a much greater consideration of the threat from extremism and from the reluctance of Russia to respect international norms and boundaries. The review also needs to focus on how waste can be reduced from the defence budget, to enable better support and equipment for personnel in our armed forces, since the scope for increasing the budget is limited. Finally, we have to be clearer about what sort of country we want to be in the world.

If we want to be a country that retains the option to deliver humanitarian aid and use force, we need both the means to do so and national debates and consensus about when it is necessary. However, a more proactive foreign and defence policy in the first place would help reduce the occasions when we are faced with the most difficult of decisions. This should be Labour’s aim.

This article was first published by Progress on 13 August 2014.
 
Progress, 13 August 2014, 14/08/2014

 
Defeat into Victory - lessons on morale
Lessons for new leaders - and old - on morale from an expert.
Why defence procurement belongs outside the MoD 
We need to do more on defence but billions are wasted despite numerous reports detailing the errors. It doesn't make sense to carry on regardless - let's learn from the past and take radical action.
More defence spending, but not like this 
We need to spend more on defence, but so much time and money is wasted on procurement, as the latest report into 'Ajax' vehicles shows.
The fight for freedom, from the ‘evil empire’ to the invasion of Ukraine 
Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows we need to learn from the Cold War, including Ronald Reagan's 'evil empire' speech.
Why we need to reflect on the British constitution over Christmas 
No confidence motions and the Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011.
Fairness, Finance, and Faith 
Can we combine the three?
My lecture on the basis for Christian investing and its application to climate change. Given at the AGM of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church.
It's not just fossil fuel companies that cause climate change. Investors should focus on other industries.