LABOUR IS BACK ONSIDE

Monday was an important day for Gibraltar. It was Gibraltar Day in the City of London hosted by the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, and also there was an urgent debate in the House of Commons on the cross border delays which drew all party support. However I would argue the most important event of Monday was that the Labour Party demonstrated it was firmly behind Gibraltar and its right to self-determine its own future.

Of course the Labour Party was never off-side but was tainted by the attempts of its former Premier, Tony Blair, who to appease Spain’s Prime Minister José María Aznar, tried to bump Gibraltar in to a joint-sovereignty deal. He was aided and abetted in that task by his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Europe Minister Peter Hain. The stain of Hain has been with the Labour Party ever since.

However it should be remembered that the triple-lock to Gibraltar’s security was not a Tory invention but Labour’s. Also one of the most effective of Gibraltar’s MEPs was Labour’s Glen Ford who fought hard for the Rock and only lost his seat because of the socialists’ electoral collapse in the UK. Also the emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday was secured by Jim Dobbin. He is the Labour/Co-op MP for Heywood and Middleton and is Chair of the All Party Gibraltar Group. So the Labour Party, a sister party of the GSLP, have been good friends of Gibraltar and will continue to be so.

The important contribution to Monday’s debate came from Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister, Emma Reynolds. The key words were: “The Opposition continue to support the self-determination of the Gibraltarian people and their right to remain under British sovereignty, as we did in government.”

This drew the response from the Europe Minister, David Lidington: “I am grateful for what the hon. Lady said about her support for British sovereignty over Gibraltar and respecting the rights of its people. I particularly welcome her remarks, if they mark a break with the proposals for shared sovereignty and the betrayal of the people of Gibraltar that the Labour party supported when in office.”

Even Ian Paisley the North Antrim DUP MP after welcoming the strong statement by the Minister added: “and the equally strong statement from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) on the Opposition Front Bench about Gibraltar’s sovereignty.”

Labour is back on track and Lidington’s acidic remark accusing the Labour Party of “betrayal” would have been water off a duck’s back to the very capable Shadow Europe Minister. It would have been surprising if he hadn’t made it but he should be very wary of using Gibraltar to score political points in the future. Gibraltar needs the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour to speak with one voice in its support.

Emma Reynolds also opened the way for her boss the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, and indeed the Labour Party Leader, Ed Miliband, to talk about Gibraltar without looking over their shoulders to the Blair era. The deeds of Blair, Straw and Hain are consigned to books: it is the words and actions of Miliband, Alexander and Reynolds that now count.

WHERE DOES GIBRALTAR GO FROM HERE?

The recent revelations in the Hain book coupled with the Brussels Process and rumours of other Conservative Government plotting with Spain tells us one simple fact: given the opportunity London would clinch a deal with Madrid over Gibraltar. That applies to whoever is in power and Cameron would snatch a deal as readily as Blair or Thatcher.

Let us take a look at this from London. There are at least one million Britons living in Spain or with second homes there. They pay taxes in Spain, many work for Spanish registered companies, others run businesses. Around the same number of Britons holiday in Spain each year; in many regions they top the tourist charts. Spain is Britain’s eighth largest trading partner and in 2011 exports were nearly eight billion pounds.

This means that when Whitehall looks at its interests with democratic Spain it is these statistics that loom large and not Gibraltar. In addition to that both are partners within the EU, both currently have centre right governments and both are members of NATO.

The days of Gibraltar’s strategic importance have largely gone and the Rock is no longer the bastion of democracy on the face of Franco’s Spain. Relations between London and Madrid are good but would be better if the Gibraltar issue could be solved.

I have no doubt that Britain will honour the pre-amble to the Constitution. In addition the ties that bind the UK and Gibraltar are very strong indeed. There is over 300 years of mutual history and institutional bonds including a shared monarch. However we are faced with two differing priorities: London would like a settlement with Spain (joint sovereignty would suit it fine) and Gibraltar has no intention of diluting its sovereignty: “no surrender!”

Every indication is that Gibraltarians wish to self govern their Rock whilst maintaining the link with Britain. What needs to be done now is for that policy to be agreed not by politicians but by the people and enshrined in a binding document. It should be a document that sets out the future for Gibraltar and how it intends to relate to Britain, the EU and the UN. It will be the will of the people endorsed by the people at a referendum.

Whether the Hain revelations are true or not the fact is that Caruana has constantly sent out messages to Spain that he is willing to discuss an Andorra style solution regardless of the fact the majority of Gibraltarians are not. He comes from the Palomo tradition and talks the Palomo talk. He has been happy for sovereignty to be on the table. As a democrat I believe he has every right personally, and I stress the personally, to do so. However when he did so as chief minister he should have realised that he gave hope to those in Madrid and London who desire a joint sovereignty accord for differing reasons. Furthermore he should have made it plain he spoke for himself and the two per cent who perhaps back such a solution but not the vast majority who would reject it out of hand: including most GSD supporters. In such delicate matters as sovereignty you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

That is why I say I believe there should be a debate amongst all Gibraltarians to define the future Gibraltar they want; how it will relate to Britain, Spain and its European neighbours. In essence it will be a political debate but it shouldn’t be clouded by party politics. It should be the will of the people and once set down represent the status quo that London and Madrid have to deal with.

SO WHO IS LYING MR CARUANA?

It was two days before the Gibraltar General Election that I broke the story in Panorama that the UK’s former Europe Minister Peter Hain was going to tell all about the joint sovereignty debacle with Peter Caruana that occurred over 2001 and 2002. His book ‘Outside In’ had been embargoed by the Foreign office because it was felt the revelations that are now out in the open could affect the result of our election.

On the day that Panorama published the story I was named in a Government press release as a GSLP activist who had penned an article of lies. This is not the first time I had crossed swords with Peter Caruana on this issue.

In Panorama on June 22 of last year I penned an article: “Whispers of deals done or deals in the offing”. In it I wrote referring to 2001 and 2002: “I am equally sure that I was not the only journalist to receive phone calls or messages from UK sources suggesting the chief minister had led London and Madrid to believe he could deliver a joint sovereignty deal...and then gone back on his word. Mischief or the truth? I have no idea. However as far as I am aware Caruana has never explained to the people of Gibraltar his apparent conversion on the road to Madrid.”

During his closing budget speech in July the chief minister chose to name me in the House and to quote, incorrectly, from what I had written. He told Parliament that I had accused the then GSD government of being prepared to do a deal on joint sovereignty. Of course I had written no such thing and the GSD did not even feature in my article: only he did.

On December 6 I wrote: “In September 2004 the Gibraltar Chronicle reported on Fabian Picardo attending the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. There he had a meeting with Peter Hain and they naturally discussed the Joint Sovereignty process of 2001 – 2002. Fabian Picardo questioned Hain: “Let me ask you this, what was the attitude of the Chief Minister when he welcomed you to Gibraltar in September 2001 and welcomed the re-launch of the Brussels Process?”

“Peter Hain replied: “He led us to believe he would be a willing partner in the talks – and then he pulled back.”

That is what it is believed Hain’s book will now confirm. As it so happened I was close at hand when Picardo met Hain at this year’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and the former Europe Minister repeated the same claim.”

Well despite all the previous denials from the former Europe Minister, the Foreign Office and Caruana that is what Hain is now claiming and both he and the former chief minister can battle it out over who is telling the truth.

On Thursday 10 November I was party to a telephone conversation with the Foreign Office in London. The message back was that Hain couldn’t speak on the matters relating to 2001 and 2002 because they were to be published in his book ‘Outside In’ and for now it was the subject of a Foreign Office and Cabinet Office embargo.

The message went on: “If the GSLP win the general election then the people of Gibraltar will be very happy. If Caruana stays in power then they will be very angry indeed.” On the basis of that conversation I went to London and had conversations with Labour HQ and leading Labour politicians through whom I was able to ascertain that the embargo did exist and the basis of what Hain would say. You read that here on December 6.

What is quite clear is that Fabian Picardo was not lying over the conversation he had with Peter Hain at the Labour Party Conference at Brighton in 2004. Nor was Fabian Picardo lying over his encounter with Peter Hain at last year’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool at which I was present. Nor was I lying in my articles here on June 22 or December 6. So who is lying Mr Caruana?

(Fabian Picardo meets Peter Hain at 2011 Labour Party Conference).

HAIN BITES BACK

On Thursday the people of Gibraltar go to the polls to elect their next government. However, sometime in January, they will also have another date with destiny. On that day the former Europe Minister, Peter Hain, will publish his book ‘Outside In’. Whilst it will cover many topics it will also reveal exactly what happened between him and Peter Caruana over the joint sovereignty talks in 2001.

The book has been in the process of being published for some time. As the Foreign Office was aware that Gibraltar would be holding its general election this autumn the contents have been placed under embargo and the publication date moved back to January.

“Outside In” will appropriately be published by BiteBack Publishing – a company that specialises in political books. Hain is a loose cannon even within the Labour Party and the fact the book is to be published has shocked many within the party organisation and at Westminster. The events surrounding the attempts by Blair/Straw/Hain to bounce Gibraltar in to a joint sovereignty agreement against its wishes are something the Foreign Office and Labour would wish to forget.

Jack Straw always maintains he can’t remember what went on and sends enquiries to the Foreign Office. Yet the year after the 2001 debacle the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee reported: “According to the Foreign Secretary, the British Government and Spain have agreed to the conditions for negotiation originally demanded by Peter Caruana, who has since imposed further conditions which are incompatible with meaningful negotiation.”

It has always been inconceivable to many Gibraltarians that Britain would have embarked on the joint sovereignty exercise with Spain, knowing Gibraltar had a veto, unless they felt confident the Rock would support it. The suspicion has always been that Caruana promised to deliver the support of Gibraltarians and then went back on the deal. National Day 2001 is the likely date he saw the writing on the wall and stabbed Hain in the back.

In September 2004 the Gibraltar Chronicle reported on Fabian Picardo attending the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. There he had a meeting with Peter Hain and they naturally discussed the Joint Sovereignty process of 2001 – 2002. Fabian Picardo questioned Hain: “Let me ask you this, what was the attitude of the Chief Minister when he welcomed you to Gibraltar in September 2001 and welcomed the relaunch of the Brussels Process?”

Peter Hain replied: “He led us to believe he would be a willing partner in the talks – and then he pulled back.”

That is what it is believed Hain’s book will now confirm. As it so happened I was close at hand when Picardo met Hain at this year’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and the former Europe Minister repeated the same claim.

That documents sit in the Whitehall files relating to the joint sovereignty negotiations is fact. The Public Records Office has admitted to their existence but has refused to release them under the Freedom of Information Act as they would damage relations between the UK and Gibraltar governments.

This raises a very important issue. The people of Gibraltar have the right to know what their chief minister offered to Britain and Spain at the time of the 2001 joint sovereignty negotiations. The Foreign and Cabinet Offices might argue the case for an embargo now because of the elections. Yet leaving aside the elections Gibraltarians will be very angry indeed if Caruana is shown to have tried to lead them down the path to joint sovereignty especially if he is re-elected as chief minister.

The Gibraltarian people have a right to know what bargaining went on over the future of their homeland. They are no longer colonial serfs tugging their forelocks in the direction of the Foreign Office, the Convent or indeed No.6. It would have been better if these records had been made public – in the event it appears Gibraltarians may owe a debt to Peter Hain who up till now has been their bête noir.

Even now Caruana talks of the possibility of Gibraltar having a joint sovereignty accord with Spain. It was just a year ago when he suggested in Sevilla that Gibraltar take on an Andorra-style status. Nothing has seemingly changed over the last ten years. 

On December 8 the voters of Gibraltar have a very simple choice – do they want a chief minister whose heart lies in Spain – or Picardo or indeed Azopardi whose feet are firmly on Gibraltarian soil.

For the truth on the joint sovereign negotiations they will have to be patient and wait a while longer – but the truth will out.