Salon.com > Patrick Wintour

Mixed reviews

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 16:34:00 +0000

Downing Street hailed a promise by George W. Bush to double aid to Africa Thursday, saying it helped Tony Blair's big goal of boosting aid to Africa by $25 billion by 2010.

But Bush's offer, centering initially on a $1.2 billion injection to cut malaria deaths in half by 2010, was greeted skeptically by aid agencies, some of which claimed the bulk of the money was coming from already earmarked U.S. funds and was anyway likely to be rejected by the Republican Congress.

The British agencies, including ActionAid, also claimed the boost in cash would not come for five years -- behind the timetable set by the Commission for Africa. No. 10 experts accepted that the "precise timetable for the upward curve in spending" was not yet clear.

However, they insisted that Bush had moved and, if he stuck to his promises, would provide 20 percent of the world's aid going to sub-Sahara Africa by 2010, as well as 60 percent of the food aid.

Blair was informed of the Bush move Thursday morning, and his aides said the announcement, in conjunction with the previously announced debt relief package, "creates real momentum for a successful outcome."

Broken promises

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 15:46:00 +0000

Three million children will die in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the failure of the global community to meet its promise of slashing the death rates of children under age 5 by 2015, the United Nations is to reveal Wednesday. With Tony Blair Tuesday struggling to persuade George W. Bush to back Britain's ambitious plans for Africa, the U.N. Development Program said the human cost to Africa in child deaths would be the equivalent of twice the combined under-5 population of New York, London and Tokyo.

A study by the UNDP -- timed to put pressure on G8 leaders ahead of their summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, next month -- showed that based on current trends, the global community will miss by a wide margin the targets it set for poverty, infant mortality and education in the millennium development goals agreed to by the U.N. in 2000.

"These numbers should serve as a wake-up call for G8 leaders," said Kevin Watkins, the director of the U.N.'s Human Development Report office. "Africa cannot afford to see the world's richest countries sleepwalk their way to a heavily signposted -- and easily avoidable -- human development disaster."

Wishing Kerry well

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:21:00 +0000

John Kerry supporters in America have been told by Peter Hain that Downing Street is hoping the Democratic candidate wins the U.S. presidential election in November.

Hain, who sits in the Cabinet as leader of the Commons, has been in the U.S. on a mostly private visit. He met Labor supporters in New York, as well as members of the Kerry team. He has declined to discuss the visit, and his public remarks at a party thrown by former Sunday Times Editor Harold Evans were largely bland. But in private discussions with guests, his tone was markedly different.

Those who met him had the strong impression that he was acting with No. 10's support, and that a Democratic victory was clearly sought. Such a supposition ought to be natural, but historic ties have been jolted by the strategic and sometimes personal alliance between George W. Bush and Tony Blair over Iraq. Hain's visit may be seen by some as diplomatic ground covering in the event of a Kerry victory.

Republicans ban Brit pol

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:06:00 +0000

The Republican party in America has barred a Labour MP from the floor of its convention, allegedly on the grounds that he is not sufficiently conservative.

The excluded Alan Williams, a veteran Welsh MP and member of the liaison committee of MPs, said last night that the same problem had occurred four years ago at the previous convention, although a last-minute deal then had given him access to the floor as a member of an all-party British delegation. Last night he said that no compromise had been possible this time: a shame given the considerable support the prime minister, Tony Blair, had given the Bush administration on Iraq.

"We are far from pleased," he said. "I find it singularly strange that Labour MPs can be welcomed on the floor of Congress but not at the Republican convention."

In contrast to the previous occasion, he said, "they refused to budge".

"They said they didn't want any politician who wasn't a conservative on the floor of the convention centre."

A Republican party spokesman said no slight had been intended, and that the issue had merely revolved around the need to keep numbers on the floor of the conference down.

“Where is American diplomacy?”

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 13:48:00 +0000

The United States is losing interest in the Middle East peace process and prospects of creating a viable Palestinian state are gradually disappearing as a result, a British government assessment of the Palestinian crisis warns.

The analysis, written by the Department for International Development (DfID) in consultation with the Foreign Office, reveals the alarm within Whitehall at the disengagement of the Bush administration from events in Israel and the occupied territories.

It warns: "The role of the USA, the country with the most leverage over Israel, is key. Frustration with aspects of the Palestinian leadership, preoccupations in Iraq, presidential elections and security concerns for US citizens may risk USA disengagement at the highest levels from the peace process when it is most likely to start collapsing."

The analysis, signed off by the development secretary, Hilary Benn, concludes: "There is now a medium to high probability that there will be a lack of effective international engagement on the Middle East peace process due to other international priorities in 2004." It says the EU has "limited influence."

Blair reignites nuclear debate

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 13:17:00 +0000

Tony Blair Tuesday signalled that Britain may have to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to meet the challenge of climate change.

Appearing before a committee of senior MPs, he disclosed that America was pressing Britain to look again at the nuclear option, including a new generation of stations that some claim will be safer and cheaper. Britain would have to take "some very difficult decisions", the prime minister said.

Mr Blair also revealed that the door to a fresh round of nuclear stations had been kept open in last year's energy white paper at his personal insistence. "I have fought long and hard, both within my party and outside, to make sure that the nuclear option is not closed off," he told the Westminster session.

Even though Mr Blair insisted big political and economic hurdles remained in the way of further nuclear stations, his remarks were hailed by pro-nuclear MPs, but caused consternation among environmentalists.

Mr Blair said the evidence was now overwhelming that climate change was the single biggest long-term problem facing the country, and conceded the world was nowhere near finding a mechanism to cut carbon dioxide emissions by the government's target of 60% by 2050.