Category Archives: Peter Hain

Peter Hain calls for inquiry into MoD’s alleged role in Saudi bribes scandal

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Government auditors must look into claims of complicity in corruption on arms deals with UK, says Labour peer

Alleged Ministry of Defence complicity in the “national scandal” of bribery on arms deals in Saudi Arabia must be investigated by government auditors, a senior Labour politician has said.

Peter Hain, the antiapartheid campaigner and peer, said in a letter to the National Audit Office (NAO) that a “timely, targeted” investigation was now necessary after the conclusion of a major criminal trial.

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West ‘colluding in terrible failure’ in Gaza, warns Peter Hain

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Labour peer and former Middle East minister says Hamas will have to be included in future governance of Gaza

Western policy towards Gaza represents collusion in a terrible failure and will not lead to the permanent elimination of Hamas or security for Israel, the former UK Middle East minister Lord Hain has warned in an Guardian article, demanding a rethink of British approach to the war.

Hain, a cabinet minister in post-1997 Labour governments and a Foreign Office minister from 1999 to 2001, also accuses the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of playing an indirect role in promoting Hamas by refusing to negotiate on a two-state solution and imposing a “near-constant state of siege” on Gaza.

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Former minister urges UK to back international anti-corruption court

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Lord Hain is seeking amendments to economic crime bill requiring ministers to back establishment of new court

The UK government should back the establishment of an international anti-corruption court to prosecute corrupt leaders of countries unwilling or unable to enforce their own anti-kleptocracy laws, according to Lord Hain, the former Foreign Office minister.

With cross-party support, Hain will propose that the time has come for Britain to throw its weight behind the growing global momentum for an international court, analogous to the international criminal court in The Hague.

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Labour in bid to avert Northern Ireland power cuts as result of Brexit legislation

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Exclusive: Peter Hain to table amendment in House of Lords to protect single energy market

A Labour peer is launching a bid to avert a fresh energy crisis with potential power cuts and drastic electricity price rises in Northern Ireland as a result of proposed Brexit legislation.

The former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain will table an amendment to the Northern Ireland protocol bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday to protect the so-called single energy market (SEM), which allows power to be traded with the island of Ireland as one economic unit.

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Ban Bain & Co from US government contracts, Joe Biden is urged

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Exclusive: Labour peer calls on US president to follow UK in banning firm over misconduct in South Africa

Joe Biden should follow the UK in banning the global management consultancy firm Bain & Company from future government contracts, the Labour peer Peter Hain has said.

In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged the US president to “act on this matter and establish a clear precedent that will signal to all US global companies, consultancies, lawyers, auditors and financial advisers that collusion with corrupt politicians and their business cronies in other countries will not be tolerated”.

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Bain & Co barred from UK government contracts over ‘grave misconduct’ in South Africa

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Global management consultancy’s three-year ban follows pressure by ex- Labour minister Peter Hain

The global management consultancy Bain & Company has been barred from tendering for UK government contracts for three years after its “grave professional misconduct” in state corruption in South Africa, the Cabinet Office said.

Britain became the first western country to take this step, after pressure from the former Labour minister and anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain.

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Ex-Northern Ireland secretary accuses Boris Johnson of ‘Putinesque tactics’

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Labour peer Peter Hain says PM is using Northern Ireland protocol bill to provoke populist row with EU

Boris Johnson is engaging in “Putinesque” tactics by using the Northern Ireland protocol bill to cause a populist row with Brussels when the EU is willing to compromise, Peter Hain, a former Northern Ireland secretary, said on Sunday.

Hain, who sits on a Lords subcommittee on the protocol, said Brussels appeared willing to compromise, but Johnson was more keen on engaging in a “parallel universe blame game”.

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UK urged to intervene after another photo of Princess Latifa emerges

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Peter Hain says government must demand proper proof of life of Emirati royal after third image appears on Instagram within days

The UK government has been urged to intervene to find out whether the Emirati royal Princess Latifa has been genuinely freed from house arrest by her father, after a third Instagram photo appeared in as many days purporting to show her in a Dubai shopping mall.

The latest photo showed Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, a daughter of the ruler of Dubai, looking at the camera blankly next to a clairvoyant at a coffee table.

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Boris Johnson is warned of ‘dangerous political vacuum’ in Northern Ireland

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Letter from four former secretaries of state says Brexit’s damage to peace process must be addressed

Northern Ireland is in a dangerous political vacuum and could “fall over” unless the UK government acts swiftly, according to a cross-party group of former cabinet ministers with experience in the region.

Boris Johnson needs to show more urgency and focus to ameliorate Brexit’s damage to the peace process, the group tells the prime minister in an open letter published on Monday.

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