The conservativehome.com blog

The 24% LibDems seek to exploit Iraq

A poll in today's Telegraph gives the LibDems a worrying 24% rating. Over the next few days Charles Kennedy's party intends to increase this further by putting Iraq centre stage in the election campaign. Britain's red corner media will be delighted to help them in this. For months on end the Today programme has delighted in bad news stories from Iraq, whilst neglecting any good news. But if the red corner media are ignoring the reality of Iraq's progress, one red top newspaper offers a timely reminder of what has been achieved.

This morning's Sun highlights a quotation from Iraq's new Deputy PM, Barem Saleh:

“Anyone who says Saddam should have been allowed to stay in power does not understand the brutality of his regime. The British people can be proud of the part they played in removing him.”

“For my generation, who have seen nothing but the brutality of Saddam, the war was the defining moment in our history. Liberation opened up all sorts of possibilities to bring democracy and freedom from fear."

Tony Blair made big mistakes in how he took Britain to war. He focused on the existence of WMD when Saddam's WMD technological capacity combined with his human rights abuses amounted to enough of a case for pre-emptive removal. Tony Blair deserves to be removed from office for many, many failures. But Britain's part in the liberation of 25 million people should be a source of pride for this nation.

Conservatives should not support arms sales to repressive regimes

Conservatives believe in free trade but selling arms to nations that can use them against their own people, their neighbours or - in the future - us, isn't good policy.

A lot of people talk about American unilateralism. But it is the European Union that is out of step with much of the free world in wanting to resume arms sales to communist China. It was delicious to see Japan berating Chirac about this issue over the Easter weekend. Selling arms to China could, George W Bush said "change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan". The US is rightly worried that selling EU arms to China could help the dictators of Tiananmen Square advance to a new level of military sophistication. There is also the problem of 'defence leakage'. Can we trust China to keep its technologies to itself? There is speculation that Airbus sales to China depend on Brussels lifting the arms embargo. The EU's commercial greed was brilliantly exposed by Vaclav Havel in this article about it dancing to Fidel Castro's tune and banning dissidents from its Cuban embassies.

But just after Bush had seized the moral high ground we learn that the US is going to sell F-16 jets to Pakistan.

You don’t know Tony Blair like we do…

In an open letter*, conservativehome.com has invited American conservative admirers of Tony Blair to think again.

Whilst TB has provided welcome backing to George W Bush’s liberation of Iraq, he is not a reliable ally. By initially insisting on the UN’s never-ending road to dealing with Saddam – and by focusing too narrowly on WMD as a reason for getting rid of Baghdad’s mass murderer - Britain’s Clinton-like Prime Minister undermined public support for action. More relevant to the future is Mr Blair’s enthusiasm for surrendering British powers to the Brussels superstate. Further European integration will make it harder for Britain to join with America, Australia and other free nations in the war on terror*.