The EditorSurrey MirrorTrinity HouseLondon RoadReigateSurrey RH2 9PR 10th February 2003

I am grateful to Richard Warren for his kind remarks about my presentation at the Stop the War meeting on 31st January, which was so well organized by Maurice Crichton and skillfully chaired by the Reverend David Skitt.

The meeting was well attended, reflecting the considerable concern that is also being represented in letters to me.

Mr Warren has come away with the conclusion that I believe we must support the USA come what may. That is not my view. The point I was making is that today only the USA possesses the military capability to take on UN or other enforcement missions against a significant military power such as Iraq. That does not mean we must be subservient to her, but when the USA is prepared to act, in this instance against a singularly dangerous dictator, if we agree with her we should support them and recognize she is acting in our interests too. On Iraq this is the view of the Prime Minister, which I share. It is a minority public view at the moment, but I will go on responding to letters and attending public meetings to try and persuade people of the merits of the course of action the USA and UK are following. Equally as the situation develops so our position needs to be constantly re-evaluated. For now the deployment of US and UK forces has got the inspectors back in and a growing level of Iraqi compliance.

Mr Warren's view is that in future Britain can only play a major global role as part of an “ever closer European union”. The alternative he sees is as a vassal state of the USA. That is not the extent of the choice and neither of Mr Warren's options seems to me to be in Britain's interests.

Britain has some significant strategic advantages that would be lost if we follow either extreme path. We are an English speaking island off the coast of Europe. We have a global outlook and a global pattern of trade with trade contributing more to our economy than our competitors. Since 1979 we have shown we can compete with the best in the world and have rediscovered the entrepreneurial self-confidence that was the basis of Britain's economic preeminence in the 18th and 19th centuries. We have an enormous amount in common with our European partners, but not to the exclusion of the rest of the world. We have as many links to the old commonwealth and growing exciting possibilities with the new commonwealth, particularly India, with over a million British citizens with an Indian heritage. We do have a relationship with the USA that is special, not to mention our position as Japan's leading European partner, in their words not mine.

It seems quite unnecessary for us to make the choice between either Europe or the USA. If Europe proceeds to being a nation state we would forego much of these benefits, that's why I'm against that, just as I am against being the 51st State of the Union.

Yours faithfully

Crispin Blunt