August
is fast approaching and I have my summer reading ready. When I was in London I
bought a copy of Alastair Campbell’s latest diaries on Blair and the Iraq War
(The Burden of Power: the countdown to Iraq). By chance I flicked though it
last night to see what references there were on Gibraltar: three to be exact
and very brief: my first reaction was they were of little interest.
However
having slept on it I awoke this morning to realise Blair’s first reference to
Gibraltar was in fact dynamite. I then read our Government’s statement on the
Guardia Civil incursion on Friday and I believe in a very roundabout way there
is a link.
Back
to Blair who in Campbell’s book is preparing for a press conference with the
Spanish premier José María Aznar. Blair asks Aznar: “What do you want me to say
on Gibraltar?” Before Aznar can reply Campbell jumps in as shouts “Don’t answer
that!”
Last
night I took another sip of my gin and tonic and moved on. This morning I found
the reference again whilst drinking my green tea and needed nothing stronger.
Here is the British Prime Minister of the day asking the Spanish Prime Minister
what Madrid wants him to say about Gibraltar. My God, thank goodness Campbell
was there to stop the answer although we know from the joint sovereignty
debacle that followed just what it was!
Now a
lot of water has flowed under Westminster Bridge since then but in some ways
relations between Gibraltar, the UK and Spain have not changed one jot. Spain,
especially PP governed Spain, is still the bully and it knows that every time
it give Gibraltar a Chinese burn No.6 has to run to Whitehall for help.
The
problem is Westminster and Whitehall are none too keen to get involved. Anglo -
Spanish relations always come before Anglo – Gibraltar relations simply because
Spain is more important to the UK as a trading and political partner than
Gibraltar is. I suspect as I write a Mandarin in the Foreign Office is dusting
down a formal protest to Madrid on Friday’s incident: it will be presented and
accepted with all due ceremony then put in the cardboard box with all the
others and promptly forgotten about.
Let
me give you two scenarios: on Friday night a French Gendarmerie patrol boat
boarded a UK vessel in British waters off Dover and under darkness took the
boat to Calais where the innocent crew where held for two hours and then
released. Result: all hell would have broken loose, the TV news channels would
be giving blanket coverage, politically and diplomatically Britain would be
breathing fire!
OK,
on Friday night an Argentinean naval patrol boarded a Falkland’s vessel in the
island’s waters and took it under darkness to Buenos Aires where the British
crew were held and questioned before being released. Result: Britain would be
jumping up and down at the UN and Royal Navy patrols would be beefed up.
So
too last Friday: a Guardia Civil armed patrol boat boards a British vessel in
Gibraltar’s water and takes it in darkness to Algeciras where after two hours
questioning the crew and boat are finally released.
Is
Britain breathing fire? No!
Is it
receiving 24 hours UK news coverage? No!
Has
Britain increased its Royal Navy presence? No!
Is
Britain’s ambassador to the UN lodging an urgent protest? No!
The
key difference between the first and second scenarios and Gibraltar is they
took place in British home waters and the oil rich waters of the Falklands.
Gibraltar is adrift, alone, in the waters of the bay – albeit it British
Territorial ones, which some Whitehall Mandarin thought were off Algeria, so
left to Spain under the EU’s environmental plans.
And
so we return to the ghost of a British Prime Minister asking his Spanish
counterpart – “What do you want me to say on Gibraltar?”
The
fact is the waters, airspace and borders of Gibraltar will only be fully secure
when Gibraltar and not Britain defends them. Gibraltar has to stand up alone to
the Spanish bully and until it does the pinching and punching will go on and on
and on. The ultimate challenge is will Gibraltar take on this nasty bully
because London won’t.
