A commentator has just drawn Owl’s attention to Chairman Swire’s Conservative Middle East Council website:
Category Archives: Conservative Middle East Council
Swire justifies his Saudi links
From his website – there is no date but probably just before bin Salman’s visit to UK in March 2018:
“Visit to the UK by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman
The Government expects the visit to usher in a new era in bilateral relations focused on a partnership that delivers wide-ranging benefits for both the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Government intends to enhance our co-operation in tackling international challenges such as terrorism, extremism, the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen and other regional issues such as Iraq and Syria.
I am aware that Vision 2030, a programme of internal reforms, has been set in motion in Saudi Arabia by the Crown Prince. These include lifting the ban on women driving from June this year, opening up attendance at major sporting events to women and allowing cinemas to operate in the country. Vision 2030 aims to catalyse and open up the country’s economy over the next 15 years, which will provide opportunities for British businesses to help support delivery in areas such as education, entertainment and healthcare where they have world-class expertise.
It is my view that maintaining a good relationship with Saudi Arabia allows us to support their important programme of reform, and to have frank conversations on matters where we both have concerns. It is for this reason that I did not agree with the petition to prevent the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from visiting the UK.
Additionally, as the Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council (https://cmec.org.uk) I am committed to improve our understanding of the threats, challenges and opportunities in the Middle East which as you will be aware is a complex but important part of the world.”
https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/visit-uk-crown-prince-saudi-arabia-mohammad-bin-salman
Swire’s Saudi Arabian arms sales efforts undone by Appeal Court
It has been a bad week for Swire. His choice for PM (Dominic Raab, whose campaign he helped to conduct) was defeated early on and now questions are being asked (and decisions made) about the thorny subject of arms deals to Saudi Arabia during his time as a Foreign Office minister and since then during his (continuing) chairmanship of the Conservative Middle East Council.
Swire was made Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 4 September 2012 and was in the job until 15 July 2016.
During his time as Foreign Minister, Swire made trips to Saudi Arabia in the company of BAE Systems and an attempt was made to examine arms sales to the country (and to Colombia) in 2016, as reported by East Devon Watch here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/crispin-blunt-to-intensify-row-about-saudi-arms-sales?
and here:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2016/07/22/swire-economical-with-the-truth-at-the-foreign-office/
Since then Swire has again visited the country in his capacity as Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) and a Labour MP tried to instigate an inquiry into the CMEC dealings in Saudi Arabia last year, mentioning Swire:
and Wikipedia states:
“Swire became Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) in September 2016, having previously been a member of the group. In June 2016, he accepted a donation of £10,000 from the wife of a billionaire with links to the leadership of Saudi Arabia. The journalist Peter Oborne has criticised the direction of CMEC away from its earlier focus on Palestine, to greater interest on the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia.[16]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Swire
Now, the Appeal Court has ruled that arms sales to Saudi Arabia are (and have been since 2015) unlawful because they contributed to civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing:
The Guardian explains:
“… The UK has licensed the sale of at least £4.7bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the start of the civil war in Yemen in March 2015, with most of the recorded sales taking place before 2018.
Sales are signed off by the foreign, defence and international trade secretaries, and ministers and former ministers including the Tory leadership candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have defended the UK’s arms relationship with Riyadh.
Latest figures estimate that the death toll in the complex civil war in Yemen since 2016 is fast approaching 100,000 – although there is currently a ceasefire – with nearly 11,700 civilians killed in attacks that have directly targeted them.
Estimates say that two-thirds of the civilian deaths were caused by the Saudi-led coalition; the rest were victims of actions by the Houthi rebels they are fighting.
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: “We welcome this verdict but it should never have taken a court case brought by campaigners to force the government to follow its own rules.
“The Saudi Arabian regime is one of the most brutal and repressive in the world, yet, for decades, it has been the largest buyer of UK-made arms. No matter what atrocities it has inflicted, the Saudi regime has been able to count on the uncritical political and military support of the UK.
“The bombing has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. UK arms companies have profited every step of the way. The arms sales must stop immediately.”
Swire currently in Lebanon talking up our military involvement in the country
“The press office of Prime Minister-deisgnate, Saad Hariri, on Thursday indicated that the PM received today at the Center House a British delegation from the Conservative Middle East Council CMEC, in the presence of the British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling.
The Chairman of CMEC Sir Hugo Swire said after the meeting:
“This is the second day of our trip to Lebanon. We had a series of interesting meetings. We started today by meeting with the head of the army general Aoun and we were able to talk about the assistance that the United Kingdom is bringing to the Lebanese military. We had an extremely good meeting with the president as well this morning, and then with Speaker Berri, to learn more about the political situation. We just met with Prime Minister Hariri, who was able to talk not only about domestic matters but also about the wider regional challenges for the country and how the United kingdom can do more, particularly in fulfilling some of his ambitions in terms of revitalizing the economy and the infrastructure.
We believe the United Kingdom can do a lot more in that prospect. We are already helping hugely on training the military, on an education program which is coming under a lot of challenge because of the Syrian refugees issue, but we want to do more now on the commercial side as well to make sure that all the people of this country prosper and play a part in the future.”
http://nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/95850/Hariri-receives-British-delegation
East Devon Watch 