Alan Duncan launches push for UN treaty on the arms trade

By Tim Montgomerie
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As Nick Clegg has noted, there are global rules covering the trade of bananas but no rules on guns and grenades. International development minister Alan Duncan has today given a speech in which he has called for a UN treaty to govern the arms trade and tackle the illegal spread of weapons to conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal and Yemen. It is estimated that 400,000 people die each year from illegally traded light weapons and that African GDP is depressed by an amount greater than the whole UK aid budget ($18 billion) because of conflict.

Talking to The Guardian Mr Duncan described the illegal arms trade as "the greatest threat to development, beyond disease and disaster." "We are," he said, "making some progress on issues such as polio and malaria.The factor that is most restraining development is conflict, which is why this new treaty is so important. It has massive implications for development."

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Theresa May versus Qatada

By Tim Montgomerie
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If you wanted to criticise Theresa May over the last few months in her handling of the Qatada case then you might fairly say that she was too submissive to the ECHR and too keen to follow the letter of the law. I think those would have been unfair criticisms - a Home Secretary cannot ignore or even bend the law. A Home Secretary must uphold the law and be seen to do so.

I read yesterday's news that Qatada has been allowed to appeal as proof (if further proof was needed) that the Strasbourg court will bend over backwards to help someone like Qatada - popularly known as Osama bin Laden’s ambassador to Europe. The Home Office is absolutely clear that his window to appeal expired at midnight on Monday. The officials at the Strasbourg court are saying that "within three months" from 17th January equalled Tuesday night. On the Today programme the leeway is apparently explained by the court receiving so much correspondence every day.

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The police and security services must have the tools to protect us

By Tim Montgomerie
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In the last 24 hours a couple of commentators have bravely defended the Government's plan to ensure crime and terrorist-fighting arms of the state have access to digital communications records. Matt d'Ancona wrote that "the objective of this reform is not to deprive us of our privacy, or make real the telescreen of Nineteen Eighty-Four but to ensure that those who protect us are not technologically outpaced by those who would destroy us." Earlier today Dan Hodges argued that "the most prominent modern miscarriages of justice... have resulted not from the state accumulating too much intelligence on its citizens, but too little."

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Theresa May insists that internet surveillance is vital to defeat "paedophile rings, criminal conspiracies and terrorist plots"

By Tim Montgomerie
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The one policy area that appeared to most unite the Liberal Democrats and modernised Conservative Party was the issue of civil liberties. The weekend's news that the Government plans to announce new legislation in the Queen's Speech that will require internet and phone companies to record who their customers have emailed, texted and called (etc) has raised big doubts as to whether that unity can be maintained.

David Davis led the charge against the new law at the weekend. Conservative MP Dominic Raab tells today's Sun newspaper that the law could mean "mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale". "Far from making us safer," he warned, "these plans for Big Brother surveillance would expose us to massive fraud." Jacob Rees-Mogg warned that the powers that the Coalition creates "may in future be used by less benevolent administrations.”

Liberal Democrat MPs are equally anxious. Clegg's party president Tim Farron tweeted: "We didn’t scrap ID cards to back creeping surveillance by other means". On LibDemVoice Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge, wrote:

"The Home Office wants to have access to information about not just who we text but who we tweet, who we skype to as well as who we ring. Now, this may seem to be no more objectionable than the current position but, technically, it is a complete mess. Your Internet Service Provider doesn’t have a clue who you facebook, and doesn’t want to either. No expert I’ve ever spoken to can see how this could possibly be done without great expense and without allowing access to the actual message that was sent – which is not legal without a warrant from the Home Secretary."

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Four conclusions about Cameron's 48 hours in Washington

By Tim Montgomerie
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The images below have kindly been supplied by Andrew Parsons/i-Images and must not be produced without permission.

ANDREW PARSONS/ i-IMAGES

Political boost for Cameron: Remember all that talk that Barack Obama and David Cameron wouldn't get on? It seems a long, long time ago. Last week's visit to Washington by David Cameron (and most of his key advisers) couldn't have gone much better from a presentational point of view. Cameron was seen eating hot dogs with the Commander-in-Chief who - outside of America - is still a global pin up. Britain's PM got a ride on Air Force One. Most voters will have welcomed the two leaders' modesty on foreign policy compared to the boldness of the Bush/Blair years. We all got the opportunity to admire the very beautiful Samantha and Michelle. The visit reinforced the correct idea that only one party leader in British politics has a prime ministerial aura.

ANDREW PARSONS/ i-IMAGES

A still special relationship: A lot of nonsense is spoken about the UK-US relationship but whether it's special or essential it's certainly important and after last week it is confirmed to be in robust health. We share so much culturally. Many British jobs depend upon US trade and investment (and vice versa). We co-operate militarily, diplomatically and on intelligence matters. One of the reason Britain matters in the world is that we are seen as the nation closest to Washington. The transatlantic relationship stands alongside our membership of the UN Security Council; membership of the EU; our place at the heart of the Commonwealth; a leading role in NATO; the world's fifth largest military power and, arguably, the best special forces as reasons why Britain still matters in the world... and why we matter to America. Whether America matters to the world in quite the way it did is another matter. Britain and France couldn't have fought the Libya campaign without US assistance but under America's 44th president there have been many photo opportunities but no progress on global warming, free trade or the nuclearisation of Iran.

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Five lessons from Prevent - following today's Home Affairs Select Committee report

By Paul Goodman
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I haven't yet had the opportunity to read today's Home Affairs Select Committee report in to Prevent in full, but the Home Office presumably has: it says that the committee "broadly support[s] the outcome of the Prevent review and the revised strategy".

The Committee's alertness to the dangers of neo-nazi terrorism - which the BBC has swooped on - and the need to remove violent extremist material from the net seem sensible.  I look forward to reading the whole report.

Its publication is as good a moment as any to ask what lessons can be learned from the history of Prevent - and recent events in relation to violent extremism and extremism more broadly.  I draw five conclusions.

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Baroness Warsi is the most powerful example of Tory feminism

By Joseph Willits 
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With the release of 'The Iron Lady' last Friday, political commentary has focused on feminism, and women in politics a great deal. This morning in a Telegraph blog, Cristina Odone discusses the superiority of Tory feminism. She writes:

"Blue feminists don’t go in for the tokenism their red counterparts support. They despise positive discrimination as a confidence-sapper. Red feminists want the nomenklatura filled with quotas and box-ticking representatives; but blue feminists argue that women, like men, should be chosen on merit, not sex. Knowing they’re the best for the job gives them the self-confidence that the Left’s token women lack."

Whilst other commentators have been keen to focus on rising female Tory MPs such as Louise Mensch, Claire Perry and Amber Rudd as examples of card carrying Tory feminists, a more subtle, yet incredibly powerful example would be that of Baroness Warsi.

Commenting on the guilty verdict for Stephen Lawrence's killers, Trevor Phillips cited Warsi's position in the Cabinet, as an example of how far politics and race relations had come since 1993.

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Is Hague doing enough to stop the Arab Spring becoming a Winter for Christians?

By Tim Montgomerie
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Islamic persecution of Christians is a massive global issue. It has grown with instability across the Middle East. The Middle East Forum's record of violence and intolerance in November alone includes:

• In Nigeria, "Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar" carried out coordinated attacks on churches and police stations, including opening fire on a congregation of "mostly women and children," killing dozens";
• Also in Nigeria, "the Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity";
• In Ethiopia more than 500 Muslim students assisted by Muslim police burned down a church, while screaming "Allahu Akbar";
• In Algeria five Christians were jailed for "worshiping in an unregistered location";
• In Kashmir "Muslim police arrested and beat seven converts from Islam in an attempt to obtain a confession against the priest who baptized them";
• In Kenya, "suspected Islamic extremists, apparently angered at the use of wine during communion—Islam forbids alcohol—threw a grenade near a church compound killing two, including an 8-year-old girl, and critically wounding three others"...

The list goes on here and I also recommend this page run by Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Fraser Nelson took up the issue for Christmas in a powerful piece in last Friday's Telegraph. Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt MP (himself a Christian) has responded but Fraser is not satisfied with the response. Nor, some months ago, was the leader of Scotland's Catholics.

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Hague says Afghanistan has a "bright future", with or without the Taliban at the discussion table

By Joseph Willits 
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At a conference in Bonn today to discuss the future of Afghanistan, William Hague said that despite the absence of both the Taliban and Pakistan at the discussion table being far from ideal, a "sustainable Afghanistan with strong national security forces that is able to look after its own security" is still possible.

The decision on whether or not "a political settlement with the Taliban or elements of the Taliban" is achievable "if they want it", said the Foreign Secretary.  The ideal scenario for discussion about Afghanistan's future and "the broadest possible political settlement would ... include the Taliban" continued Hague, "but if that is not attainable ... there can still be a brighter future for Afghanistan".

Hague described the killing of 24 officers and men by American warplanes, as an "unfortunate incident", which has led to Pakistan's boycott of this year's conference. He was optimistic however, that Pakistan's absence was only temporary:

"I don't think that means that in the longer term Pakistan is not taking part in the international deliberations about these matters"

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Cameron: Today we should remember Gaddafi's many victims

Text of statement:

“I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Qadhafi’s victims, from those who died in connection with the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street and obviously all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex. We should also remember the many, many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime. People in Libya today have an even greater chance, after this news, of building themselves a strong and democratic future. I’m proud of the role that Britain has played in helping them to bring that about and I pay tribute to the bravery of the Libyans who have helped to liberate their country. We will help them, we will work with them and that is what I want to say today.”