The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: 2011

  • Sir John Major’s Speech at The Kurdistan National Assembly – 29 May 2011

    The text of Sir John Major’s speech to The Kurdistan National Assembly on Sunday 29th May 2011.

    SIR JOHN MAJOR:

    I am immensely grateful to President Barzani for his kind invitation for me to visit Kurdistan. His invitation was issued a long time ago but alas, for various reasons, I have not been able to accept until now. The President – and the people of Kurdistan – have lived up to their reputation of being the warmest of hosts, with the most generous of welcomes, and I would like to thank you, Mr Speaker, for affording me the great privilege of addressing this Assembly today.

    It is a great honour for me to be here. I stand here with a sense of pride and pleasure. Pride in the role Britain has played in supporting Iraqi Kurdistan. And pleasure at seeing the progress you have made in developing a democracy, in building your economy, and in helping to stabilise Iraq as a whole.

    For me, this visit brings back powerful memories.

    At the end of the first Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein was committing genocide on the Kurdish people I looked on – we in Britain looked on – with horror, and pressed a plan to establish “safe havens” for the brave Kurds who were being attacked. The European Union, and then the whole international community, accepted our ideas. The “safe havens” were established, and a human tragedy of enormous proportions was avoided.

    The recent street demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa have shown the world that millions of people in this region want democracy. It is a demand for freedom and accountable Government. They want to influence how they are governed. Since the fall of Saddam, Iraqi Kurdistan – and Iraq as a whole – has led the way in taking steps towards democracy. You have confronted many of the challenges that others will now face.

    Every country is different and has the right to develop in its own way, with its own culture and traditions. It is not for the West to dictate the terms of change in the region. This is an Arab revolution, not a Western one. The United Kingdom’s approach is built on our longstanding respect for the dignity and aspirations of the Arab peoples.

    The Iraqi experience can guide the region. It shows that reform is not a threat to stability, but the guarantor of it. A repressive response by Governments only reinforces the calls for change, and the need for it. Libya and Syria have not learned this, and are brutally repressing protests. They must understand that the international community will not accept their abuses of power.

    The demonstrations, uprisings and demands for reform that have swept across the Middle East have, tragically, led to deaths. Sadly, that is also true in Iraqi Kurdistan: but here the circumstances surrounding those deaths are different: first, they are being investigated; and second, Kurdistan is in the process of passionate political debate about how to reform. The United Kingdom fully supports that debate – we welcome it – and we congratulate President Barzani and Prime Minister Saleh on the work they are doing to develop a reform agenda.

    The political upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia is the preface to an immense economic task. It will not be easy. There is bound to be tension between people’s hopes and expectations of immediate benefit, and the need for painful measures to open undeveloped economies to greater opportunity. The West cannot stand aside: it must do all it can to help entrench a better future across the Middle East and North Africa – MENA.

    The United Kingdom can help.

    – Through international organisations, in particular the G8

    – Through the European Union

    – And bilaterally – in 19 countries of the region – through our Arab Partnership.

    The route we choose to help does not matter: but the fact that we do help matters a great deal.

    The challenges ahead are huge, but so are the potential benefits. Prime Minister Cameron compared the Arab Spring to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. I agree: as Prime Minister, I saw that revolution at close quarters. It was one of the most dramatic events of the last century, as the Soviet Union shook off 70 years of tyranny. When I visited Moscow soon afterwards, there was a tremendous sense of euphoria, a feeling that oppression had had its last desperate throw. There was real belief that democracy was taking root. As it may be now – across the MENA region.

    The Arab Spring has affected countries with very different political and social systems. No single response is appropriate to them all. There is no easy transition from tyranny to freedom – or from an inefficient command economy to a free market. But the Kurdistan Regional

    Government and the Government of Iraq can take a leading role in this on-going revolution. You can set an example to your near neighbours. And the very fact that you are in a position to do that is a great tribute to all you have achieved in recent years.

    Of course, there is more to be done. The national debate on reform will succeed or fail in laws made here – in the National Assembly. You are the guarantor of popular will. That is a tremendous responsibility. As someone who served as a Member of the British Parliament, it is a burden and responsibility I know well.

    In any democratic political system, it is the majority that finally decides on policy. And that must be so. But the minority must also have its say. Democratic Opposition is a vital role. It holds governments to account: the best laws are those that benefit from a wide range of views. No-one has a monopoly of wisdom.

    That concept of a loyal Opposition is central to a democracy. The House of Commons is at its best when it is united: but it is at its most vibrant when members debate opposing visions of the nation’s future.

    As Iraqi Kurdistan fashions its own distinctive democratic system, I am delighted to learn that it is working with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

    The first joint work was on the role of the Opposition. How can it be defined? How can parties work together in the national interest? Such questions are the real meat of a vibrant, representative Parliamentary system. I understand that, over the coming year, the Foundation program will be looking at strengthening the links between electors and the elected; how to get Parliamentary messages out to the broader public; and how to strengthen Parliament’s ability to hold the executive to account. This is vital work that underlines how far Iraqi Kurdistan has come in such a very short time.

    I also know, from my discussions with the British Consul General, that – even prior to the Arab Spring – there was an on-going and vibrant debate in Iraqi Kurdistan about how best to develop democracy, and the UK will continue to support you in that endeavour. I can assure you that our support did not end with military operations in Iraq – it is there for the long-term.

    This was evidenced yesterday, when I officially opened the newly elevated Consulate General in Erbil. This Consulate represents a settled relationship. One based on political engagement, cultural exchanges, educational links and bilateral trade. You see evidence of this in the presence of British universities. You saw it last year when Sir Andrew Cahn led a high-level delegation of UK companies to the Erbil International Trade Fair, which was a great success. This year, I expect an even larger delegation to attend.

    This increased UK business activity can be seen across Erbil. It’s not only with respect to oil exploration, but across all sectors.

    The Erbil International Airport was designed by British architects, Scotts Wilson. They are now working on a master-plan for Suleymaniya airport.

    The most striking car showroom in Erbil displays Land Rover, Range Rover and now the latest Jaguar models: classic British designs, with represent the best of British tradition, innovation and engineering.

    British companies such as Jones Lang Lasalle and BTW Shiells are providing the property management advice that are making Erbil’s shopping malls the envy of the rest of Iraq.

    Parsons Brinkerhoff is working on a master-plan for electricity supply and generation.

    Heritage, Gulf Keystone and Sterling have made significant investments in hydrocarbons. The only two global banks in Iraqi Kurdistan – HSBC and Standard Chartered – are both British-based and are both increasing their activity.

    All of these are investments of strategic importance to both Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq as a whole. But there is still much more to be done to develop our bilateral trade.

    For our part, Britain will work harder at encouraging UK companies to invest in Iraqi Kurdistan. For your part, you must continue to improve the investment environment. President Barzani has spoken of the need to tackle corruption. That is vital in order to attract companies.

    You will need a stronger legislative framework to protect businesses; transparent processes to resolve contractual disputes in the courts; a banking sector to provide the kind of services offered by HSBC and Standard Chartered; and it is also important that you press the Government of Iraq to pass the Hydrocarbons and Revenue Sharing Laws.

    These improvements will allow British companies to access insurance guarantees, attract finance, meet legal obligations under UK law and permit exports in the hydrocarbons sector. Generally, it will allow International Oil Companies to invest across the whole of Iraq.

    It is self-evident that relations with Baghdad are crucial if you are to achieve all these aims. I believe you can engage more with the Central government, and – as a result – gain more from that relationship. The quality of democracy in Baghdad matters to you; so does the building of institutions; and establishing a dialogue on outstanding problems.

    I hope you will continue to see Britain as an ally. We are ready to help in this process of democratic and economic development. During difficult times, we were a friend of Kurdistan. During more peaceful times – as you move forward into a more prosperous future – we remain a committed friend.

    And we can help in practical ways, too. After the tragic Soma Hotel fire in Suleymaniya in which 33 people died, the KRG asked for international assistance. Our Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser was able to help. He toured the region and wrote a detailed report setting out his recommendations for improvement.

    As a result, your top fire rescue/civil defence officials have just returned from the UK where they have seen for themselves the training, organisation and equipment we can offer. There are many areas where similar co-operation can flourish.

    Let me return to politics. I have been enormously impressed by the brave and laudable progress Kurdistan has made on women’s rights. Kurdistan is one of the few places in the wider region where men are not allowed to cite so-called “honour” as a reason to kill their wife or daughter. I applaud this Assembly for passing that law which has led the way for the rest of the region.

    I was delighted to see that the report on improving implementation was written jointly by Kurdish experts and by Bristol University, and that the UK has deployed a prominent expert on human rights and women’s issues to work with key Ministries on reducing violence against women. I understand this Assembly has legislation before it that is aimed at providing appropriate punishment for domestic violence. I do hope you approve this new law: it is yet another opportunity for this Assembly to take the lead in forward-thinking within the region.
    I mentioned Bristol University – just one of the many UK universities reaching out to Iraqi Kurdistan.

    I have been struck by the appetite in Kurdistan to engage with the outside world. This is wonderful to see. The most visible demonstration of that is in the field of education. The Prime Minister’s Human Capacity Development Programme -which finances Master’s and doctoral scholars to study abroad – is far-sighted. So are the plans to make your universities independent and for doctoral programmes to include mandatory study abroad. Naturally, I am delighted that so many of your scholars have chosen to study at UK universities, and proud that the United Kingdom is helping educate the next generation of Kurdish leaders. I hope and expect these scholars to return home bursting with new ideas.

    I would like to conclude with remembering those who suffered under Saddam’s regime. I can think of few words or thoughts that could possibly offer any comfort to the survivors, and the families of those who did not survive. It was a truly terrible time in your history, and one which will never be forgotten.

    But, today, as I see all that has been achieved by the people of Iraqi Kurdistan – despite the heart-breaking sacrifices of the past – I am left with one very clear view: you should be enormously proud of what you have already achieved, and look forward – with great optimism – to all the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for your future.

    Thank you.

  • Sir John Major’s Comments on the Changes in the Middle East – 10 March 2011

    The text of Sir John Major’s comments on the changes in the Middle East, made in a television interview on 10th March 2011.

    SIR JOHN MAJOR:

    I think what’s happening is world changing. I think this is as big an event as the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80s and early 90s. It’s that big and it’s going to have very far reaching ramifications. And some of the most interesting factors are what has not happened. For twenty years we have worried about Islamist influence and over-throwing governments and militant Islamist governments in the Middle East.

    And what has actually happened has been a grass-roots revolution led by young people, inspired by the Internet and Facebook and the social networks, and satellite television, and against political and economic matters. There’s been no flag burning, no Islamist significance. Indeed terror bodies such as Al-Qaeda seem almost irrelevant and may seem so in the future.

    Why should people join terror groups, if peaceful action by a mass population can change governments in the way we have seen.

    So I think there a lot of very long-term implications of what has happened that we haven’t begun to examine.

    [Sir John Major was asked about the 80s and 90s and whether the Kuwaiti Royal Family should be concerned]

    I think down the Gulf the circumstances will probably stay pretty much as they are, except I think there will be reforms. Reforms have been promised in a number of countries, I think they will take place. There may be changes of Ministerial personnel, there will be reforms. Their Parliaments perhaps will get more power.

    So I think perhaps the Gulf is a little separate from elsewhere. What may be a bigger difference is the implication on the whole region over the next few years. The extent to which the Arab identity, the instinct of Arab nationalism rather than Islamism actually becomes embedded.
    We can’t be certain how that will pan out yet, but it will change, we can be certain of that. And when this has bedded down in the next five or ten years, the world will look different in the way it looks today.

  • Sir John Major’s Tribute to The Lord Lyell – 20 January 2011

    The text of Sir John Major’s tribute to Nicholas Lyell, The Rt Hon The Lord Lyell of Markyate, QC, at the thanksgiving service held at St.Margaret’s, Westminster, London on Thursday 20th January 2011.

    SIR JOHN MAJOR:

    “Old age creeps
    Yet new each year
    The roses bud and flush”.

    So wrote Nick in one of his poems. Those brief lines tell you a lot about him. Nick was a countryman. He loved the countryside and all its pursuits. He knew nature in all her moods. He understood the rhythms of life – and death. He believed that, after old age, there was renewal.

    That was his faith: it is why, and how, he faced death with such equanimity. It was, for Nick, merely the start of a new beginning where, one day – he had no doubt – he would be joined by his family and friends. And – in due time – the roses would bud and flush once more.

    This was Nick, the Man of Faith. But there were so many Nicks. All with the same underlying characteristics.

    Nick was a gentle man in every sense of the word. A little shy. Often under-stated. A conciliator, not a warrior. He weighed his words carefully. His natural manner wasn’t impassioned oratory but nuanced, thoughtful, rational, fact-backed judgement. He had – thank goodness – no notion of “spin”. What he said he meant. In Nick’s hands, the scales of natural justice were perfectly balanced. There was nothing narrow or parochial about him: in life, as in politics, he had 360 degree vision.

    I came to know Nick well. Over 30 years ago, we entered Parliament on the same day. We became members of the same dining club. We shared views and instincts. We worked together – as PPSs; as Junior Ministers; and later, Nick became a close and valued adviser as Attorney-General. In all that time, I never heard him say anything in private that he would not say in public, nor saw the faintest trace of discontent when his high abilities were not recognised as swiftly as they might have been. He was – above all others I knew – the man who was most comfortable in his skin.

    The main reason for this – apart from his natural temperament, and the soothing nature of his poetry and sketches – was his marriage and his family. Nick was a contented and happy man, at ease with his life, and Susanna and their children, Oliver, Alexander, Veronica and Mary Kate gave him an enviable balance, even in adversity.

    And there was adversity in his political life: inevitably so, in his role as a Law Officer. Many controversies crossed his desk. And yet, in my experience, he was always a man of deep integrity who interpreted the law fairly and generously.

    And when, over Matrix Churchill, he faced ill-informed criticism, he deserved – and received – the whole-hearted backing of Lord Lloyd of Berwick, and five Law Lords. I knew how much this incident worried and disturbed Nick, but told him at the time – and reiterate it now publicly – he had done nothing for which he need ever reproach himself. How could there have been anything? Nick was incapable of any action he did not believe was just. It is why he was the longest-serving Law Officer in the last 100 years.

    It is twelve years since Nick first knew he had the disease that would finally defeat him. Characteristically, he confronted it head on, fought it bravely, and – with his family’s love and support – denied it an early victory. He was, to the outward eye at least, rather sanguine about it. He didn’t let it dominate his life. He remained positive. So far as possible, he carried on as normal. With Nick there was no self-pity. If he ever asked himself: “Why Me?”, he would have replied, “Why Not?”.

    Whenever we lunched together or shared a drink, he was invariably “doing well”, or so he said. He remained busy – not least on his many pro-bono commitments. Whatever uncertainties or fears he had – and such an intelligent and sensitive man must have had some – he kept to himself. And when he knew the battle was lost, he slipped gracefully – and perhaps gratefully – away. “Can I go now, please?” he asked Susanna. And then – without fuss – he was gone.

    I said earlier that there were many Nicks. And so there were. By profession, he was a lawyer and politician and – I think – in that order of priority. Privately, he was a poet, an artist and a countryman. Publicly, he was a Member of Parliament, Minister, Law Officer, Privy Councillor, Knight Bachelor and Peer of the Realm. But personally – and most important of all to Nick – he was a husband, father, grandfather – and friend.

    So many Nicks – all wrapped up in one modest, self-effacing package. His was a life worth living. A life with a hinterland. A life lived for others as much as himself. A life to remember. A life of which to be proud – though self-regard was never one of his characteristics.
    For Susanna and his family he is irreplaceable. And yet, the Nick they loved will always be there: they will hear him and see him through the thousands of memories they will carry of him in their minds, for the rest of their lives. As time moves on, the pain of their loss will ease, and their memories of Nick will be fresh and clear and unclouded. Nature is kind in that way.

    And all of us, privileged to have had a walk-on part in his life, are lucky to have known him. For me, he was a cherished friend – loyal and true. In good times and bad, Nick was always there with his wise and gentle counsel.

    Old age crept up – but far too soon. A new year has dawned. May the roses indeed bud and flush for you Nick, and may they be every bit as beautiful as you imagined them to be.