Following Tom Tugendhat’s promotion to the Government, I intend to put myself forward in the contest to succeed him as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
I am standing for election to this position because we are at an extremely important and delicate time in international affairs. I want to use my experience to efficiently scrutinise and hold the government to account in this vital policy area.
I have been an MP for over 30 years. During that time, I have been fortunate enough to have served as a Foreign and Commonwealth Minister under John Major, Defence Secretary in David Cameron’s Government, and I was appointed the UK’s first ever International Trade Secretary by Theresa May. I was honoured to be nominated by Boris Johnson to be the UK’s candidate for Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2020.
I also served for 13 years on the Opposition Front Bench, including as Shadow Foreign Secretary.
As Shadow Foreign Secretary, I set up the Conservative Party’s Commission on Human Rights.
There is no shortage of foreign policy matters for us to scrutinise at this time. Russia, China, Iran, Ukraine and Taiwan are all pressing issues, to mention a few. Human rights concerns are becoming ever more pressing, not least in Afghanistan, especially for women.
No longer can we refer to something as being ‘over there’. As we have seen recently in a globalised world, what happens internationally can have a severe and enduring impact on a range of domestic issues. As I set out in my book Rising Tides 10 years ago, prosperity, stability, and security form a continuum where one element cannot be interrupted without disrupting the whole.
Since leaving Government I have focused my efforts in the foreign affairs arena by Chairing on a cross-party basis the UK Abraham Accords Group and the Global Britain Commission. If elected as a Committee Chair, I will continue to work on a cross-party basis – as I also did on the Down Syndrome Act. I will be the type of Chair that is a referee working on a consensual basis bringing my usual energy, enthusiasm and experience.
The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP
Member of Parliament for North Somerset