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NEWS
The disastrous failure of Iraq should not be allowed to undermine public support for an engaged, and where justified, interventionist liberal foreign policy, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will say today.
In his first keynote foreign affairs speech, delivered this afternoon to Chatham House, Nick Clegg will set out his vision for British foreign policy. He will:
· Argue that the principle of the Responsibility to Protect must be widened to include events such as the response to the typhoon in Burma
· Call for a new Strategic Defence Review to better align Britain’s resources and capabilities with the kinds of conflict Britain is likely to face in coming decades
· Argue that the battle for public opinion over Afghanistan is in danger of being lost and that the Government has failed to distinguish between British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan
Calling for a tough international response to Robert Mugabe’s campaign of terror in Zimbabwe. Nick Clegg will say:
"Cutting off foreign remittances is a serious step with serious consequences. I know that it would hurt the ordinary Zimbabweans who rely on remittances from friends and family abroad.
"But the fact remains that access to foreign currency is the only thing that enables the regime to function and therefore the only thing that sustains Mugabe in power.
"It is now too late for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. But it is not too late for Britain to act within the EU, the UN and, crucially, with countries in the Southern African region to act decisively against Mugabe.
"President Mbeki must move beyond his reluctance to act and threaten to restrict electricity supplies into Zimbabwe."
