UK’S global standing could be diminished says Hague
BRITAIN’S standing in the world could be ‘diminished’ by Parliament’s rejection of military action against Syria, William Hague warned yesterday.
The Foreign Secretary said he and David Cameron were working to ensure that Britain does not ‘matter less’ in the wake of the landmark vote, which effectively ruled out British involvement in any attack on the Syrian regime.
‘It wasn’t the vote the Government sought,’ he said. ‘We have to make sure that Britain isn’t diminished.’ Mr Hague, who will hold talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in London this morning, insisted ministers were not ‘gung ho’ about military action.
But he said he remained convinced that the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons should be met with a military response – and it would be ‘alarming’ if the US Congress also votes against retaliatory strikes.
‘If it is decided in the various parliaments of the world that no-one will stand up to the use of chemical weapons and take any action about that, that will be a very alarming moment in the affairs of the world,’ he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. Mr Hague warned that the violent fallout from the Arab Spring could last for years.
He added: ‘The real fear is of these processes going on a long time, of revolutions that take decades – throwing up a lot of turbulence, civil wars along the way, sometimes bringing intervention.’
But he added: ‘We mustn’t be put off by that from keeping faith with millions of people in the Arab world who want the dignity and freedom that we have in our own country. We have to keep faith with them and not think that they’re all evil or they’re all fanatics because actually, yes, sometimes these countries have those people … but the great majority of people are not like that.’
Mr Hague acknowledged that atrocities carried out by the Syrian opposition had made it harder for the public and MPs to support intervention. But he said Britain had a duty to ensure more moderate elements in the opposition were not ‘eliminated’.
Mr Hague insisted that the Government had no plans for a second Commons vote on Syria, but added: ‘If circumstances change dramatically, then of course everybody would be looking at things in a different light.’