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Tories 'urge Middle East reform' Tories to urge joined-up security
(about 13 hours later)
The Conservative party is expected to call for renewed efforts to encourage Middle East countries to accept political reform. The Conservatives are to call for the establishment of a National Security Council to better coordinate the fight against terrorism.
An interim report from the party's policy group on security is to advise this course of action instead of forcing change through military action. Links between foreign policy decisions, such as the Iraq war, and domestic security can no longer be ignored, a key party policy group will say.
The group says the region plays a pivotal role in international security. It will also urge renewed efforts for political reform in the Middle East.
It will say the promotion of democracy should be encouraged and efforts should be made to resolve local conflicts. The group, chaired by Dame Pauline Neville Jones, will publish its interim findings on Monday.
Political stability "We need to recognise that a central element of foreign policy - the intervention in Iraq - has failed in its objectives so badly that the threat to this country is actually greater than it was before it began," the report will say.
The interim report is being published on Monday. And it will stress that "it is no longer possible to look at domestic security policy and foreign policy separately from each other".
Dame Pauline Neville Jones, who chairs the group, believes there needs to be an approach in which countries in the Middle East are shown that they will miss out on benefits if they do not introduce democratic regimes. 'New framework'
Dame Pauline is a former head of the joint intelligence committee, which played a central role in advising ministers in the run-up to the Iraq war.
She backs the Conservatives' longstanding proposal for a dedicated homeland security minister.
But her report will say the government should go further and set up a cross-departmental National Security Council "so that foreign policy, defence policy and security policy are formulated together rather than apart".
Departments involved would include the Foreign and Home Offices, the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence, the intelligence agencies and the Cabinet Office, supported by a dedicated cross-departmental staff, the report will suggest.
"What is needed is a mechanism within which those responsible for action across government... can ensure that, from the start, policy adopted in any of these areas is coherent in the sense that it takes fully into account the likely consequences at home and abroad," it will say.
The report will also propose "a new form of international framework to promote progressive reform" in the Middle East.
Dame Pauline believes there needs to be an approach in which countries in the Middle East are shown that they will miss out on benefits if they do not introduce democratic regimes.
However, the report admits that democracy does not guarantee political stability.However, the report admits that democracy does not guarantee political stability.
It also acknowledges the fact that the wide range of countries and political regimes in the area also hinders the proposed approach.It also acknowledges the fact that the wide range of countries and political regimes in the area also hinders the proposed approach.