Nigel Evans MP Responds From Tanzania
NIGEL EVANS MP replies to his name being mentioned on Channel 4’s Dispatches show about politicos taking foreing trips. He writes from… Tanzania:
“I was hugely disappointed with the Dispatches programme.
“It was highly biased and heavily weighted from the outset against MPs’ involvement with the CPA and other organisations.
“I was offered a written right to reply to questions raised by Channel 4. The response ran for five pages. I was amazed, therefore, that almost nothing of my reply featured in the programme. The result was an unfair and unbalanced account. Indeed, even the photograph put on TV was doctored.
“I have complained to their Chief Executive Andy Duncan requesting the right of a reply programme that will give a balanced view of these organisations. A balanced programme though would not be sensationalist so might not be their cup of tea. I believe the UK branch will be putting in its own complaint.
“I am proud of my involvement with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Inter Parliamentary Union.
“I am currently in Tanzania for my last meeting of the Commonwealth Executive. I have served three years as the United Kingdom’s sole representative and I am grateful to MPs and Lords of all parties for giving me this opportunity to represent our Parliament and country.
“I have used my opportunities to put forward views on poverty reduction, climate change (I am chairing that session), equal opportunities and the pestilence of HIV/Aids for which I was a spokesman for the three years previous.
“This year we are looking very closely at the impact of the economic downturn on developing countries which directly affects Tanzania and neighbouring Kenya. They are both suffering a massive drought and Oxfam are just launching their own UK appeal.
“Outside of the Commonwealth I have also chaired the agriculture sub committee of the Council of Europe and will soon be working on a report looking at the plight of European dairy farmers. I will be able to use my first had knowledge of the huge problems that face Ribble Valley farmers.
“I have also completed two reports into technology transfer on the joint strike fighter and the future of unmanned aircraft- so vital for BAE systems in Warton and Samlesbury and hundreds of small to medium sized companies that supply them.
“I have recently taken a place on the International Development Select Committee because of my interest in human aid projects.
“This position was a huge reason behind why I went to India on a visit sponsored by the Indian Government (as indeed many visits are not funded by the UK). We visited two hospitals, in one of which worked a doctor who had worked at Royal Preston Hospital, to see the work of the charity Smile Train.
“There we met many parents and their children who had received cleft lip and palate operations made possible by the generosity of UK donors. Eight hundred million Indians live on less than $2 a day, and to see hundreds of them sleeping rough on the pavements is heart-wrenching.
“I am also proud to have seen first hand the work of our troops in the Falklands. Anyone who has witnessed the battlefields near Stanley gets a real sense of the sacrifice so many British troops made to keep the Falkland Islands a British overseas territory.
“I believe that these are very real and very pertinent issues which are constantly raised with me by constituents who themselves, through organisations like Rotary and Lions and the work of church groups, raise aid for international projects.”
Posted: 30th, September 2009 | In: Politicians Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
