Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint — House of Commons, 2018-12-03
Topic: International Affairs
David Melvyn Linden (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Absolutely. I very much pay tribute to my hon. Friend. The hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), who is no longer in his place, spoke of being led down a rabbit hole, but it would go amiss if I did not use this opportunity to reference my recent correspondence with the Government of the Republic of Tanzania, which I had the great privilege of visiting in September 2017. The governor of Dar es Salaam has been deploying people on what would be called gay hunts. I have raised that issue with the United Kingdom Government through written questions and with Tanzania through correspondence. I was disappointed to receive a response from the Tanzanian Government only this week saying that while they did not necessarily agree with the governor of Dar es Salaam’s comments, they were not necessarily going to take any action on them. I very much hope that the United Kingdom Government will be able to take action on that, but I do not want to digress too far from the path of Scotland’s foreign policy footprint This morning, while out doing constituency visits, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Ibraheem, who runs the Usave convenience store on Eckford Street. He has been here for 13 years. He runs the local newsagent, but he recently qualified as a solicitor. As I spoke with him in his shop in Tollcross, he reflected on how welcoming and embracing Scotland has been; he realised that when he lived in Pakistan. He decided that he wanted to come to the United Kingdom, and specifically Scotland, because of that warm embrace and that strong relationship. Scotland is not yet an independent country—it is coming, for all that—but we will be able to forge greater links when it is That leads me on rather nicely to the subject of the former Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson). Last week, when I was travelling home on the sleeper train, I had the misfortune to watch the recent BBC documentary, "Inside the Foreign Office". The right hon. Gentleman did not, during his travels, come across as the kind of gentleman that Scotland or the United Kingdom want to send to build relationships around the world. It is probably right that he should no longer be in that position. It angers me that he did not resign as a result of his deeply distasteful remarks about Sirte, which he said could be "the next Dubai" if the people there "clear the dead bodies away" He was allowed to get away with that. That is the kind of person we have had speaking on behalf of the United Kingdom and building relationships, and that reflects very badly indeed on Her Majesty’s Government On Brexit, there are severe challenges coming down the track. That has not been helped by the way that Her Majesty’s Government have pursued their Brexit negotiations. I think one or two colleagues might wish to follow me, so I shall conclude by saying that we do not know what the next couple of weeks hold in terms of Brexit, but having come off a plane only about two hours ago after spending the day in my constituency, it is crystal clear to me that people in Scotland realise that the only way for Scotland to have a proper, equal relationship with other nations is to rejoin the family of nations.