Sri Lankan government are in at the moment they would likely reject Jesus Christ himself as a messenger of goodwill and peace.

Andrew Pelling MP
Member of Parliament for Croydon Central


PRESS RELEASE
14 February 2009

Party politicking inappropriate over humanitarian crisis

Croydon MP Andrew Pelling has criticised Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox MP for using the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka as an excuse for party political point scoring in the UK.

Andrew Pelling sits as an independent MP but retains Conservative Party membership in his home town of Croydon.

Dr. Fox has been quoted as seeing the appointment of Rt. Hon. Des Browne MP, the former Defence and Scottish Secretary, as a new envoy of the Prime Minister to try to secure an end to the conflict in Sri Lanka, as

"a further example of the extraordinary incompetence of Gordon Brown’s government – which turns out to be global in scale.

Having presided over calamitous damage to our economy, he is now managing to make a complete mess of this country’s relations with friendly countries overseas."

Andrew says

"The Sri Lankan government has rejected Des Browne as the PM's envoy. The mood that the Sri Lankan government are in at the moment they would likely reject Jesus Christ himself as a messenger of goodwill and peace.

For myself and for many Tamil British people Dr. Fox's party political point scoring about efforts to try to solve the Sri Lankan humanitarian crisis seem cheap and poorly judged – remarks unexpected and unusual from the usually astute Dr. Fox.

After all, only as recently as last week, the Conservative Party in the Commons chamber was seen to be keen to create a positive cross-party consensus on the work to end the killings of innocents and the bombing of hospitals in Sri Lanka."

Contact: 020 7 219 8472

Notes: Conservative Party Press Release below –


Dr. Fox’s comments covered in
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7887853.stm


Conservatives

t (Press) 020 7984 8121

t (Broadcast) 020 7984 8100

f 020 7984 8272



13th February 2008

Ref: 0236/09



Fox: Sri Lanka envoy appointment yet more evidence of Labour incompetence

Commenting on the rejection by Sri Lanka of Des Browne as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the country, Shadow Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, who as the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the region in the mid-1990s was involved in negotiating a peace agreement with Sri Lanka , said:

“This is a further example of the extraordinary incompetence of Gordon Brown’s government – which turns out to be global in scale.

“Having presided over calamitous damage to our economy, he is now managing to make a complete mess of this country’s relations with friendly countries overseas.

“To have managed to offend first India and now Sri Lanka in the space of a few weeks is hardly a sign of a deft diplomatic touch.

“The situation in Sri Lanka is very complex and sensitive. The issues involved need to be dealt with extremely carefully.

“Instead Gordon Brown was determined to find a post to offer Des Browne, apparently without even bothering to find out whether the Sri Lankans thought this was a good idea.

“The whole world is gravely concerned about the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka and how we can best help the people there solve their considerable problems.

“At a time like this it is particularly depressing that Britain ’s approach to the issue should be dictated by Gordon Brown’s short-term considerations within the Labour Party, rather than the long-term interest of our relationship with Sri Lanka .”



ENDS





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