The Conservatives are hugging us close on domestic policy - they will keep the 20% basic income tax, the independent BoE, the minimum wage, the spending on the NHS, they'll keep all our crime initiatives too, as they've been proven to reduce crime. It's on foreign policy that differences between them and us loom large

Kate Allen, the UK Director of Amnesty International, was kind enough to sit down with Labourhome for a few minutes and offer some insight into how the Deputy Leadership hopefuls performed. She also offered her thoughts on the direction of foreign policy under a Gordon Brown administration, what the Labour party needs to work on, and how non-governmental organisations (like Amnesty) are also playing strategic roles as early-warning indicators in trying to highlight flare-ups around the world.
The event was hosted by Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Save The Children. In the last 10 years the host organisations have pressed for a UK foreign policy based firmly on human rights, humanitarian law and social justice.

Arms Control	Iran	Palestine	Darfur
Iraq	Guantanamo Bay	Candidates Heroes	International Aid

Straw polls before and after the event asked attendees for their Deputy Leadership choice.

Tuesday, 26 June - 1800-1930

With: Lord David Triesman, Foreign Office minister; Stephen Twigg, our chair and Director of the Foreign Policy Centre; Mike Gapes MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Lorna Fitzsimons, Patron, Progress (chair); and more speakers TBC.

Committee Room 11, House of Commons

To register, please send your name and email address to Tom Brooks Pollock (tom@progressives.org.uk; 0203 008 8180).

Tuesday, 26 June - 1800-1930

With: Lord David Triesman, Foreign Office minister; Stephen Twigg, our chair and Director of the Foreign Policy Centre; Mike Gapes MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Lorna Fitzsimons, Patron, Progress (chair); and more speakers TBC.

Committee Room 11, House of Commons

To register, please submit your name and email address to Tom Brooks Pollock (tom@progressives.org. uk or 0203 008 8180). 

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/100

Tuesday, 26 June - 1800-1930

The seventh and final First 100 Days seminar will cover foreign policy.

With: Lord David Triesman, Foreign Office minister; Stephen Twigg, our chair and Director of the Foreign Policy Centre; Mike Gapes MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Lorna Fitzsimons, Patron, Progress (chair); and more speakers TBC.

Committee Room 11, House of Commons

To register, please send your name and email address to Tom Brooks Pollock (tom@progressives.org.uk; 0203 008 8180). 

Defence & Foreign Policy After Blair
A conference for Labour Party members and activists.
Organised by Labour Against the War in conjunction with Labour CND and Labour Action for Peace

Britain in the days of empire was renowned for the exercise of gunboat diplomacy, a term the current incident with crewmembers of HMS Cornwall has returned to currency. But the nineteenth century is long gone, and new challenges exist, particularly driven by global population growth and climate change, leading to vast numbers of fragile communities at risk from natural disasters and conflict. A Commonwealth helicopter carrier network could offer the world an emergency response service to deal with natural disasters or local conflicts involving commonwealth citizens, and be available for UN service, independently in small-scale peace enforcement, or as part of a larger force.

Peter Hennessy gave a really good interview of 18 Doughty Street last week in which he described in a relaxed way what he thought about many topics- ranging from the Falklands War to nuclear armament under Attlee. Its well worth listening to and is here.

Amongst the things he said though was his argument that during the Iraq war the Labour Cabinet behaved irresponsibly. None of the members of the cabinet asked for the legal advice to be given to them, it was the Permanent Secretary at the MOD and commander of the army who asked for it and none of them asked for written argument about the war even though the Cabinet Office had actually prepared such a statement for them to read.

Your comments are invited on the subject of the UK's involvement in Afghanistan. If you are to contribute, could you please not wander off thread on to the subject of the Greater Middle East, as this subject will be dealt with in a separate thread to be posted in the near future.

Since the Prime Minister's announcement of his imminent departure and the subsequent frenzy surrounding the uncertainty over the date, Tony Blair has been accused, increasingly, of catalysing paralaysis in government.

The only solution to this, prior to final departure, is a statement of clear aims for his leadership over the coming months, and his Foreign Policy Centre report published yesterday aims to do just that.

I am lifting out and posting a comment I attached to another thread (to be fair, slightly off topic) which I hoped would promote a debate.

The essence of my question is, what would an 'ethical foreign policy' look like in the case of Darfur? How would an 'ethical foreign policy' have dealt with Iraq, not just at the time of the war, but at the continuing situation regarding sanctions, Saddam and containment?