British Policy and Parliament

Election 2001 News: Implications for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Time for Common Sense - the Conservative Party manifesto 2001 (excerpts)

"Knowing who we are

[This section has five sub-sections: "A world leader", "A stronger society", "Town and country", "A civilised country" and "A proud democracy".]

"A World Leader" (p28)

"Common sense means valuing what makes us distinctive as a nation. [five bullet points, including:]

No European army outside NATO. "

"Britain is one of the world's most respected democracies, one of its most influential leaders, one of its most prosperous nations and one of its greatest military powers.

Our possession of all of these qualities, which we rightly value, depends on our ability to govern ourselves. And all of thaem are now put at risk by the threat that is now posed to our independence.

Labour have lost confidence in our ability to govern ourselves. Its time for common sense.

The next Conservative Government will secure our independence and use Britian's great strengths to help create a flexible Europe of nations, to maintain the Atlantic Alliance and to develop the role of the Commonwealth."

[...]

"A military power and a staunch ally

One of the reasons that Britain is respected around the world is that it remains a first-class military power.

The British way of life and freedom and democracy around the world are made more secure by the professionalism of our armed forces and the success of our long-term military alliances.

Yet now this is all under threat.

The last four years have seen our armed forces come under increased pressure. Overstretched and undermanned, they have also come under attack from those more interested in political correctness than operational effectiveness. At the same time, our primary alliance, NATO, is being weakened by a concerted drive to create an independent military structure in the EU. And for the first time, a British government is leading this attempt.

A Conservative Government would pursue a very different policy.

We think it is common sense to support institutions that work. Our armed forces and NATO work very well.

So we will support our armed forces by setting out to match commitments to capabilities, by making it a priority to achieve the armed forces' full manning levels and by opposing political correctness. We will exempt the armed forces from the European Convention on Human Rights, just as France, Spain, Portugal and other have done.

We will seek greater flexibility to deal with unplanned commitments and to reduce overstretch. We will reform the Territorial Army and enhance the role of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and our other Reserve Forces.

Conservatives have always supported stronger European defence co-operation, but always inside NATO. We will not participate in a structure outside NATO, but will insist instead that any European initiative is under the NATO umbrella.

We will also end this Government's equivocation over the development by the US of ballistic missile defences. We believe our close ally deserves our support in countering new threats from rogue states and terrorists equipped with weapons of mass destruction. We will take a lead in building support for ballistic missile defence against threats to Europe and America.

We remain fully commited to Britain's independent nuclear deterrent."