The
UK’s former Europe Minister, Peter Hain, may be a pain to Gibraltarians but I
assure you he is no more than that. To pretend he is just boosts his inflated
ego which is only matched by his ‘perma-tan’ in intensity.
Hain
and I are of an age. If you asked the man or woman on the Clapham Omnibus who
he was you would probably get differing answers. People of my generation would
probably link him with digging up cricket pitches as part of the anti-apartheid
campaign. Others might know him for having been forced to resign in 2008 over
100,000 pounds in unrecorded donations to his deputy leadership campaign. He
was the first resignation from Gordon Brown’s government and is today no longer
of any importance in the Labour Party. In Wales people might remember the Kenya
born MP as being their Welsh Secretary and he still is the MP for Neath. The
majority will just shrug their shoulders and say “who?”
Of
course the reaction to Hain in Gibraltar is very different. As Europe Minister
he was the public face of the Blair – Aznar policy to bounce Gibraltar in to a
joint sovereignty deal with Spain in 2001. One of his profiles gives him the
accolade of being “one of the most unpopular
politicians ever to visit Gibraltar.” He remains so to this day.
Yet the fact was it wasn’t a Hain policy but part of the
wider deals between Blair and Aznar which involved the Iraq War. Hain might
like to claim credit but he was just the bag carrier: It was Blair and his
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who bossed the UK’s foreign affairs; Hain who was
never an effective minister didn't get a look in.
Ironically Hain might be looking at us right now as he tops
up his perma-tan at his Estepona home. He boasted in his autobiography how his
wife is almost mistaken for being Spanish, wishful thinking perhaps.
So it should be no surprise to anyone that Hain should pop up
on the BBC Radio Four Today programme on Tuesday to still peddle the Blair –
Aznar policy of joint sovereignty. Needless to say he couldn’t resist insulting
our politicians and indeed the Gibraltarian people in the process.
Hain had his couple of minutes of belated fame but caused a
backlash in the process. Today’s Labour Party in many ways wishes Blair had never
happened. I read a profile in the Evening Standard (or whatever it’s called
now) of the Labour candidates who hope to succeed Glenda Jackson as the Labour
MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. Asked which Labour policy they most regretted all
without exception stated the Iraq War – Blair’s War.
Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, and his
Europe Minister, Emma Reynolds, have both spoken out in the past to stress
their party’s commitment to Gibraltar on the same basis as the present
Conservative – Lib Dem Government. Gibraltar would be as secure under a Labour
administration as it is now. The person who is out of step with reality is
Hain.
After Hain’s remarks on Tuesday he earned a rebuke from
Hadleigh Roberts who is one of the Labour candidates in the SW England and
Gibraltar six-seater constituency to be contested next May. Curiously I first
met Hadleigh at last year’s Labour Party Conference and featured him in
Panorama as a pro-European socialist, one to watch for the future. It never
occurred to me at the time that one day he could be one of our Euro MPs.
On the Hain blast from the past Hadleigh had this to say: ‘The Labour Party
continues to respect the Gibraltarian right to self-determination and their
right to remain under British sovereignty. To that extent, Peter Hain’s
comments on joint-sovereignty were not a description of current Labour policy.
We remain convinced that the current tension must be resolved through dialogue,
engagement and respect for the rights of Gibraltarian citizens. This dialogue
must take place through the trilateral forum, which Labour created when in
office. It is regrettable that the current Spanish central Government is the
only party that refuses to participate in the trilateral forum.’
You
can’t be clearer than that. We just have to accept that Hain is a Pain who
lives in Spain – and ignore him.
(Photos:
top – Peter Hain, bottom – Hadleigh Roberts)
