Falklands : Political Party Conference Report
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 05.10.2005 (Article Archived on 19.10.2005)
Cllr. Jan Cheek talks to the BBC about the Party Conferences
POLITICAL PARTY CONFERENCE REPORT
(From BBC World Service “Calling the Falklands” by Sibon Tyne (ST) 04/10/05
We are coming to the end of the Party Political Conference Season but every single year, the Falklands make sure its profile is high at these events. Right now, representatives from the Islands are in Blackpool at the Conservative Party Conference, where today all eyes and ears, of course, have been on two of the Tory leadership hopefuls – David Cameron and Ken Clarke. They addressed delegates this afternoon. To find out more about what the Falkland Islands needs to do at these conferences, I have been speaking to Councillor Jan Cheek (JC). With the hustle and bustle of delegates around her, she described the interest that’s been shown in the Falklands stand.
JC: There’s a lot of interest as always at the Conservative Conference and of course I believe there are greater numbers here this year because of the interest in the leadership contest.
ST: Has that issue overshadowed what you are there fore?
JC: Not at all. People are still coming by the stand. We are still able to update them on what’s happening in the Islands. And, we also had the opportunity to meet most of the candidates. The only one we have still to meet is Malcolm Rifkind but I am sure we will see him in the next couple of days because he does usually come by the Falklands Stand.
ST: When the delegates come up to your stand, what kind of questions do they put to you?
JC: There are often well wishers. In many cases they are asking what’s happening. They are interested because they have heard about the problems we’ve had with the Squid in recent years They are interested in hearing about the possibilities or oil development.
ST: Have any delegates ever paid a visit to the Falkland Islands?
JC: A great number have either been in the Islands, perhaps they were in the Forces or visited as tourists. Many have friends or relatives who have lived or worked there for short periods. And they are always delighted when we remember the name of their friend or relative.
ST: We are in the middle of the Party Conference season. Last week, we had the Labour Conference in Brighton. How do you compare the issues that were raised by the Labour delegates compared to the Tory delegates this week?
JC: Actually broadly similar although I have to say the Labour Conference was a lot quieter this year. And, I am told that’s mainly because they had just won an election. So, only about a third of the MPs turned up. And, there didn’t seem to be huge numbers of other delegates. But we still had an opportunity to meet people like John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence and his predecessor, Geoff Hoon. We met our new Minister, Lord Triesman. I had a good opportunity to talk to him at a lunch, as my colleague, Roger Edwards did at a breakfast. For me one of the highlights was we go out to dinner with the Gibraltar Delegation, who are always our friends and colleagues at these conferences. And, we had the opportunity to thank Joe Bossano personally for the very effective intervention he recently made at the UN on our behalf, when the Argentine Delegation were attempting to say that we shouldn’t have the right of self determination.
ST: You did mention that you met Lord Triesman the Foreign Office Minister, who has responsibility for the Overseas Territories. What did he say to you, what did you say to him, how did the meeting go?
JC: It went extremely well. He’s very eager to visit the Islands at the first opportunity he has after our general election in November, which should, hopefully, be in the new-year. He’s very interested in the Falklands issue. We were very disappointed when we lost Bill Rammell as our Minister because we had found him so sympathetic and helpful. But I think in Lord Triesman we are going to have an equally good Minister.
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