Selling out loyal Gibraltar could be Starmer's next great betrayal
On a flight back from a summit in February 2002, Tony Blair turned to Labour's then Europe minister, Peter Hain, and remarked we should 'remove' Gibraltar as 'an obstacle to relations with the EU'. He was 'insistent' on making a deal and 'contemptuous of Gibraltarian attitudes'.
In his memoirs, Hain wrote Gibraltar was 'a little bit of England trying, eccentrically, to cling on to Spain'. He sneered at the Gibraltarians, whom he described as 'rigidly wedded to their idea of Britishness in a totally artificial sense'.
Together they hatched a plan to compromise Gibraltar's sovereignty and place it under joint control with Spain. It was only stopped by the Conservatives then in opposition and the Gibraltarians themselves.
Two decades later and we are again in a similar position. Jonathan Powell, then Blair's chief of staff, is back as national security adviser, fresh from orchestrating the surrender of the Chagos Islands. We have a new Labour prime minister who similarly views our overseas territories as an imperial hangover that must be offloaded at the first opportunity. And Spain continues to make provocative moves that are designed to intimidate and harass.
This week Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, came to the UK to say we need to solve the issue of Gibraltar to have a full UK-EU relationship. Well, no way, José. Gibraltar is British. End of. Gibraltar does not need to be part of a reset. There can be no deal that compromises Britain's sovereignty, no deal that compromises the UK's military base, and no deal that Gibraltarians do not consent to.
Starmer has been unable to shut down speculation of yet another surrender. His loyalty has always been to the EU, the European elites he rubs shoulders with in Davos, and the international legal community. He is not politically stupid enough to commit to rejoin the EU formally, so he is determined to do it by stealth. Thus far he has been willing to make concession after concession to achieve that.
Take the security and defence deal he is set to sign later this month. The EU desperately wants this given its chronic underinvestment in security. A prime minister ruthlessly pursuing the UK's self-interest would have tried to get something in return – like a commitment from the EU to take back illegal migrants from France. Starmer has conceded it for nothing while offering fishing grounds and extra powers for the EU court.
The fact Starmer's EU negotiations are shrouded in secrecy is a sure sign that this EU reset will break plenty of promises. For months Number 10 fragrantly lied about its secret plan to negotiate an EU-wide youth mobility scheme (free movement-lite) – only to be caught red-handed by the UK press. This is in sharp contrast to the transparent approach taken by the then Conservative chief negotiator, David Frost, where the UK Government was clear about its aims.
Gibraltarians are right to be concerned. Starmer has proven himself completely incapable of putting Britain's interests first. Everywhere you look he has folded under pressure. He was outmanoeuvred by the Mauritian government (hardly the most powerful negotiating party), folded to India's tax demands and has been bullied by Trump into lowering tariffs while US tariffs increased threefold. He is the archetypal citizen of nowhere, governing to further the global good – not the nation's needs.
The Conservatives will oppose every handover of our powers, every step of the way.
Robert Jenrick is the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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