The Conservatives have marginalised Gibraltar before and are doing so again – it falls to our party to stand up for it, argues Andrew Apostolou
The Tories are already talking about war over Gibraltar less than a week after prime minister Theresa May told the rest of the European Union that ‘we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent.’ The bellicosity is an attempt to hide the government’s faltering Brexit strategy and decades of Tory mishandling of the Gibraltar issue. Instead of threatening war with Spain, the government should create a Brexit process that strengthens Gibraltar and the union.
The Spanish government could not believe its luck when May forgot to mention Gibraltar in her article 50 letter. The Tory government had eight months to draft the most important diplomatic note in decades. It also had ample warning that that Spain would exploit Brexit to advance its claim to Gibraltar. The previous Spanish foreign minister José García-Margallo had warned in March 2016 that if the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, then Spain would be talking about Gibraltar the next day. That is precisely what he did on June 24, 2016, declaring that ‘the Spanish flag on the Rock is much closer than before.’ The EU’s draft Brexit negotiating position confirms the stronger Spanish position that has resulted from Brexit. In the future, the EU will subject EU-Gibraltar relations to the vagaries of British-Spanish bilateral relations: ‘After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.’
Spain’s position is obnoxious, anti-democratic, and completely logical. Unlike our Tory government, the Spanish conservatives methodically pursue their national interest. As the current Spanish foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, explained, once the UK leaves the EU, the remaining 27 must take Spain’s side. Why would anybody expect otherwise? The EU will be glad to be rid of Gibraltar, an issue that has disrupted its business for over 30 years. Moreover, why wouldn’t the EU think that Britain is a push over? After all, May voluntarily gave up the British presidency of the EU for July-December 2017 in return for precisely nothing. Can anybody imagine Spain surrendering control over the EU agenda without extracting concessions?
Logic is precisely what is missing from the Tory response. Instead the Tories are manufacturing outrage to cover their tracks. Andrew Rosindell, Tory member of parliament for Romford and the vice chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Gibraltar, claimed that ‘an agreement without including Gibraltar means there can be no agreement.’ Is Rosindell actually suggesting that Spain’s hostility to the rights of 30,000 Gibraltarians constitutes a veto over the future of 300,000 British expatriates in Spain and the economy of the UK?
Former Tory leader Michael Howard, who helped Tony Blair win his third term as prime minister, invoked Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War:
‘Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and I’m absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.’
By Jingo! How did Howard forget to mention an earlier Spanish outrage, the war of Jenkin’s ear?
These foolish words are the UK’s official position. Our country is talking about war with a Nato ally. With rhetoric as careless as the manner in which he has managed the UK’s armed forces, secretary of state for defence Michael Fallon said that ‘We’re going to look after Gibraltar. Gibraltar is going to be protected all the way because the sovereignty cannot be changed without the agreement of the people of Gibraltar.’ The secretary of state for defence has forgotten that the UK is a nuclear power. The words ‘all the way’ in the security context mean a fate worse than a visit from the Royal Marine
Perhaps the most revealing statement was from Boris Johnson, whose tenure as secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs shames the office held by Canning, Castelreagh, Palmerston, Balfour, and Bevin. According to Johnson, Gibraltar is not for sale. Gibraltar cannot be traded. Gibraltar will not be bargained away.
Actually, selling out Gibraltar is precisely what the Tories do. It was Thatcher who failed to use Britain’s superior international position in the 1980s to have Spain renounce its claim to Gibraltar. Thatcher could have blocked Spain from joining Nato in 1982, but the Cold War came first. She could also have impeded Spain’s accession to the European Communities (the EU’s predecessor) in 1986. Instead, Thatcher settled for less, accepting that Spain would only end the blockade that Francisco Franco, Hitler’s friend, had imposed in 1969. Spain’s new democracy should have wanted to distance itself from all the injustices of its dictatorial predecessor, such as by reopening the Spanish consulate in Gibraltar (which Franco had closed in 1954).
Instead, Thatcher struck the Brussels agreement in 1984 which marginalized the Gibraltarians. Gibraltar became a bilateral matter between the UK and Spain, with British sovereignty on the table. The Gibraltarians refused to be involved in British-Spanish talks in which they would have been merely part of the UK delegation. In 1996 the Gibraltarian government proposed a compromise formula to join these negotiations called ‘two flags, three voices’—the talks would remain between the UK and Spain with Gibraltar present and able to participate. The then Tory minister of state for foreign affairs, David Davis, failed to persuade Spain to agree.
After these Tory failures, it was a Labour government that came the closest to resolving the Gibraltar issue. It was a Labour government that in 2002 managed to secure a role for Gibraltar in the Brussels agreement talks under the ‘two flags, three voices’ formula. It was a Labour government that proposed a shared sovereignty formula that would have ended the dispute. It was a Labour government that got Spain to sign the Cordoba agreement in 2006 and drop its boycott of Gibraltar’s government.
The Tories’ war talk is therefore an opportunity for Labour to do yet more for Gibraltar. First, Labour should insist that Gibraltar become a member of the joint ministerial committee (EU negotiations) that is chaired by David Davis. This body already includes the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Second, the chief minister of Gibraltar deserves a seat on the joint ministerial committee (United Kingdom), chaired by the prime minister. Third, if we are going to move toward a federal-style UK, then these ministerial councils need to stop being empty talking shops and acquire powers and responsibility.
Contrary to the Tories, and their friends in the press, the Spaniards are not threatening military action. Rather, they are playing the hand that May gave them. It is the job of an effective opposition to argue for policies that will protect the democratic rights of Gibraltarians and promote a stronger UK.
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Andrew Apostolou is a British historian who has managed human rights campaigns in the Middle East.
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