Peter Hain shunted to Trade Dept.

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JAN. 27. Even amid all the distractions over the Hindujas' passport affair it has not gone unnoticed that Mr. Peter Hain has been moved out of the Foreign Office in the reshuffle following Mr. Peter Mandelson's resignation.

The decision to shift Mr. Hain to a more low-profile ministry - he is now Minister for Energy in the Department of Trade and Industry - is widely seen to be linked to his outspoken opposition to the U.S. nuclear missile defence project and his difficulties with his boss, Mr. Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, who believed that he had begun to speak out of turn once too often. More importantly, however, it is Mr. Hain's strong public criticism of the U.S. project that worried the Blair Government at a time when it is seeking hard to be on the right side of the Bush administration. The U.S. President, Mr. George Bush is deeply committed to the programme and is expecting Britain not only to support it but also work on its European allies to stop resisting it. This is one of the issues which Mr. Bush is expected to raise with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair when he receives him in the White House in the next few weeks.

Britain's support to the programme is crucial both politically and because of some of the key physical facilities which would need to be located on the British soil to make it effective. Even as the Government is treading cautiously, Mr. Hain has been engaged in a campaign against the project and in a move that particularly annoyed Whitehall was a memo he sent to Mr. Cook warning that any move to support the programme could spark widespread public protests, reminiscent of the campaign against nuclear disarmament. The memo was leaked causing considerable embarrassment. Even sympathetic commentators found it unusual for a Foreign Office Minister to take a controversial stand on a sensitive issue even before the Government has made up its mind.

The Times had little doubt that it was his ``long standing member of the CND (campaign against nuclear disarmament) and his criticism of America's Star Wars missile defence project that may have cost him his job at a time when the Government is anxious to establish strong ties with the Bush administration.'' The Independent said Downing Street was said to be ``anxious that Mr. Hain's opposition to America's national missile defence system....could cause diplomatic problems...''

Mr. Hain's exit from the Foreign Office came within hours of a diplomatic row with South Africa caused by his remarks in an interview criticising the South African Government's policy of ``constructive engagement'' with Zimbabwe. The South African Foreign Minister protested Mr. Hain's remarks saying they could jeopardise the President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki's visit to Britain during this year, according to The Times.

Downing Street, however, maintained that the transfer was not a reflection on his record and he was a highly rated Minister. Mr. Hain was reported as saying that he was not apologetic about his ``style''. ``My diplomatic style was to tell it straight. On one or two occasions that style upset people; for instance, when I said that Mugabe (Zimbabwe leader) was driving his country into the sand he objected. Well, tough. I was speaking the truth,'' he said.

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Section  : International
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