Steady as a rock
Do you remember, in amongst banalities like Cool Britannia, a young country, and for the many not the few, was the launch in 1997 of Labour’s co-called ethical foreign policy? The inference was that Foreign Secretaries like Douglas Hurd, Malcolm Rifkind and others had somehow pursued an un-ethical foreign policy. This was to be a new beginning. Well, please make your own judgment………
Truly one of the most disgraceful acts of betrayal was this Government trying to smuggle in joint sovereignty (with Spain) of the 30,000 residents of Gibraltar. This was done entirely to gain the approval of the then Spanish Government, to enable Britain to exert greater influence in the EU. It was truly a monstrously unethical exercise, which happily failed miserably.
Relations between Gibraltar and Spain have improved considerably since then. The Gibraltarians have just voted to give the colony greater autonomy, including an independent judiciary. Had Robin Cook and Jack Straw had their way, the story would shamefully have been quite different.