User:Varavour/Political positions of Bill Portland

Economic policy

Portland, who has long expressed concern over the “excesses” of Thatcherism, has widely been viewed as taking a more centrist stance on economic issues than other Conservatives. An Independent article in 2012 observed that “while he has generally been moderate with his criticism, lest his stridency do harm to his political future,” Portland “has for two decades consistently shown scepticism of policies justified in the name of the ‘market’.”

Privatisation

Portland’s most significant breaks with Conservative policy have generally been regarding privatisation; one critic remarked that he “never met a privatization case he didn’t think needed to be ‘thought very carefully’ about”. In a 1991 speech to the House of Lords, while saying the state “had no business taking control of the 'means of production’ in the first place,” Portland unfavourably compared “premature” privatisation to throwing “an animal, grown weak during a long confinement, out into the wild to its likely death, rather than carefully and patiently nursing it back to good health, until it is strong enough to survive on its own.”

In 1999, after his party had lost power, and shortly before ceasing to be a member of the Lords, he said that “fire-sale privatisations” had largely negated the impact of Thatcher’s labour reforms, as they resulted in firms being “sold-off, stripped, and, in the end, shuttered entirely”, an outcome “no better than if the unions had been let to continue driving them into the ground,” and that the low price for which nationalised firms had been sold had only encouraged exploitative asset stripping rather than investment.

He has also questioned outsourcing practices, arguing that while “until recently, would-be foreign competitors had to acquire technical know-how,” the directors of outsourcing firms now “saw fit to pay them for the privilege”, for a while “satisfied to collect a slightly higher profit,” until invariably being surprised when their partners “discovered some improvement and realised they no longer had any need for their Western middlemen.”

In 2005, lamenting the purchase of P&O by Maersk, Portland said that the United Kingdom had ceased to be involved “in almost every major industrial sector,” an outcome which he claimed was “entirely avoidable” and “virtually without parallel” elsewhere in Europe. He has also has said that revenues from North Sea oil should have been used to invest in the modernisation of state-owned firms in so that they “would have been able to compete in the open market” after privatisation, decrying what he saw as the revenues’ having been wasted on “funding benefits for an entire sector of the population which now seems unlikely to ever return to productive employment”, although noting that the government “was not left with much choice” in the matter.

While in Cabinet, Portland opposed efforts to privatise Royal Mail, joining with members of the traditionally pro-privatisation Bow Group to successfully prevent a proposed partial privatisation backed by the Conservatives’ Liberal Democrat coalition partners, saying that even Thatcher had “drawn the line at ‘privatising the Queen’s head’”, and that the proposal was deeply unpopular amongst the general public.

Upon becoming Prime Minister, Portland announced that the proposed Royal Mail privatisation would be shelved; he also scrapped an almost-completed deal to sell the Old War Office in Whitehall to overseas investors. However, during the general election campaign, he declined to back Labour’s proposal to renationalise the railway network, saying that "in this case", privatisation had been a success and renationalisation would be "a solution in search of a problem".

Trade and foreign investment

Despite his scepticism of privatisation, and the long Tory tradition in favour of protectionist policies (e.g., the Corn Laws, Imperial Preference), Portland has generally supported trade liberalisation, noting that Britain has a long history as a “trading nation”, and that historic “whiggish notions” of unilaterally removing trade barriers without reciprocal treatment are “vastly different” in nature to modern free trade agreements, which “encourage genuine competitiveness” rather than “economic cannibalisation”.

Portland strongly supports the finalisation of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and the proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and has claimed that the failure of the European Union to conclude those and other free trade agreements contributed to British dissatisfaction with the organisation. Portland has previously called for new free trade agreements between the EU and India, Australia and New Zealand, the Southern African Customs Union, and other members of the Commonwealth, and has argued that free trade agreements with emerging economies in Africa and Asia would benefit their development and reduce income inequality. In a 2014 New Statesman editorial he said it was time for Western nations to embrace the developing world's call for "trade, not aid".

Following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union and his ascension to the premiership, Portland has vowed to forge new free trade agreements with several countries and has revived calls for the creation of a “broad and inclusive” Commonwealth Free Trade Zone that would include both developed and developing member states. New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in addition to backing future bilateral trade agreements with the UK, have expressed support for a Commonwealth FTZ, while Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said it “could very well be an idea whose time has come”. Several African members of the Commonwealth have also backed the proposal; the leaders of Botswana and Rwanda have shown interest in the idea, while newly-elected Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo endorsed the call, as did Gambian President-elect Adama Barrow, who had already promised to reverse incumbent Yahya Jammeh’s decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth in 2013. Seperately, US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to conclude a trade agreement with the UK “quickly and properly”.

However, while in Cabinet, Portland strongly opposed proposals for an EU free trade agreement with China, supposedly backed by then-Chancellor George Osborne, as “economically suicidal”; upon becoming Prime Minister, he was said to have “immediately withdrawn” the Cameron government’s objections to EU anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese steel exports. At an EU summit in September 2016, Portland reportedly said that Chinese exports of excess industrial output was “suffocating” manufacturing in developed countries while also “strangling new-born industry” in developing countries “in the cradle”.

Portland has previously argued that foreign buyouts of privatised firms were “chiefly enabled by their undervaluation” and, while regrettable, could not practically be reversed, nor were restrictions on foreign ownership desirable. He has, however, expressed scepticism of the Hinkley Point nuclear power project, backed by the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group and the mostly state-owned Électricité de France, prior to assuming office as Prime Minister. In November 2016 he was purported to be attempting to undermine the deal by encouraging EDF shareholders sceptical of the project’s chances of profitability to force the firm to withdraw, thereby giving the British government “no other choice” but to cancel the project, while avoiding raising the ire of the Chinese government, which has previously spoken harshly about the possibility. The Government strongly denied these claims, but its declared energy policy has emphasised Hinkley Point in favor of renewables, domestically-produced natural gas, and small-scale nuclear power generation. In February 2017, however, in the run-up to the Copeland by-election, 2017, he reaffirmed the government's commitment to building the Moorside Nuclear Power Station.

Industrial policy

Portland has presided over a "revival" of industrial policy.During the 2017 elections he pledged to take a "broader view" of what constituted a strategic industry and "strategic capacity" In January 2017 he was said to be encouraging a takeover of Canada's Bombardier by BAE Systems in order to facilitate its diversification from the defence industry, a longstanding goal. In June, he was reported as the main force in organizing a €3.0 billion bid for Adam Opel AG by a British-led consortium, in response to a €2.3 billion bid by Peugeot S.A.. As part of the deal, Opel would be renamed Vauxhall Opel plc and be relisted on the London Stock Exchange.

Government reform

Relationship with the Royal Family

Portland has had longstanding personal ties to several members of the Royal Family. He has been regarded as a member of the Prince of Wales's inner circle of associates and has had a close relationship with Prince Andrew, Duke of York since their passing out of the same course at the Naval Academy in 1979. As Equerry to the Duke of Edinburgh he was involved in the day-to-day work of the Royal Household for two years. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, and Prince Andrew all attended both his own wedding; subsequently, the Prince of Wales would become godfather to his eldest son, James (then Viscount Woodstock), while the Princess of Wales was godmother to his eldest daughter, Lady Venetia Cavendish-Bentinck. In her will, Princess Diana left one quarter of her "personal chattels"—her physical possessions, not including liquid assets— to be divided amongst her seventeen godchildren, including Lady Venetia, reported to be equal in value to around £150,000.

Several members of the Royal Family also attended the wedding of his son at which the Prince of Wales gave the bride—also a daughter of the late Princess of Wales—away in place of her father. Members of the Royal Family, particularly, the Prince of Wales, have stayed at the Chalet Eugenia, owned by Portland's family. Portland also is a regular patron of Linley furniture, owned by David Linley, son of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (since 2017 the 2nd Earl of Snowdon), which in 2015 he hired to redecorate the house in Carlyle Square.

Upon becoming Prime Minister, Portland broke with tradition and began formally sharing government business with the Prince of Wales on a regular basis, sending copies of the Queen's briefing papers to Clarence House in red despatch boxes. Portland said that this decision had been taken in consultation with Buckingham Palace and that it was "more than time" to brief the heir to the throne on the work of Her Majesty's Government. Portland and the Prince of Wales have since begun to hold "bi-monthly meetings" to discuss the Government's plans, on the lines of the Queen's weekly audience with the Prime Minister.

Foreign policy

Portland, prior to becoming Prime Minister, had long been seen as one of the Conservatives "leading minds" on foreign policy, both in terms of political policy and academic interest, having authored several scholarly publications on British foreign policy. An underlying theme identified in his views has been the need for a guiding, coherent strategic approach to British foreign policy, which he has regarded as absent. In a "landmark" policy speech during the 2016 general election campaign, Portland declared that the United Kingdom's foreign policy should henceforth be based on "Three Pillars": relations with the Commonwealth, relations with Europe, and the "transatlantic relationship". The Three Pillars policy has been hailed by some as "the most coherent vision of the UK's foreign policy goals since the Victorian period", while others have expressed skepticism of its "vague and over-ambitious objectives".

United States

A August 2016 Politico article, written shortly after Portland's becoming Prime Minister, described him as a "pragmatic rather than doctrinaire Atlanticist", who believes "that the United Kingdom and the United States have generally been possessed of converging sets of strategic interests and foreign-policy aims," but who "does not regard the Special Relationship as inherently self-perpetuating", and, as such, holds "a less idealistic view of US-UK relations than previous Prime Ministers".

Portland and his government were said to largely share the apprehension widely felt throughout the international community following the generally unexpected victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election in November 2016; he and several other members had previously condemned his campaign rhetoric and proposals prior to the election. Portland congratulated Trump on his victory, saying that the British government hoped that his election "would only strengthen the deep, profound, and robust ties between our two nations, the closeness of which is with few parallels in the history of diplomatic affairs, which are rooted in our common heritage, and founded upon our shared fundamental values of personal liberty, representative democracy, and the rule of law." However, Portland shortly thereafter found himself compelled to rebuke President-elect Trump, who had previously claimed inspiration from the Brexit vote (having once tweeted "they will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!"), for publicly suggesting on Twitter that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage "would be a good choice" to serve as the United Kingdom's ambassador to the United States, noting in a statement that Farage was not a member of the Government nor of the ruling party, expressing full confidence in incumbent Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch, and noting that ambassadors were not appointed upon the recommendation of their host country; the Guardian in an editorial describing the last assertion as "remarkably patronising", and the fact that it "genuinely needed to be made" at all "even more so".

Trump's victory was also reported as having been a "decisive factor" in Portland's decision to call snap elections, in order to gain an electoral mandate and increase the Conservatives' parliamentary majority in order to "strengthen their position" in the face of an expected increase in global uncertainty. In late November 2016, Portland announced that he would travel the the US and Canada on a working visit in mid-December, following the snap elections (presuming the Conservatives were not defeated). On 15 December he met with Trump, and held a high-level working lunch with several of his cabinet appointees and a delegation of U.K. Cabinet ministers. Portland described the meeting as "very productive" and as laying "a strong foundation for future cooperation", while Trump reiterated support for the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union and his desire to quickly conclude an advantageous free trade deal with the U.K., contrary to outgoing President Obama's declaration prior to the referendum that Britain would have to go "to the back of the queue" for a trade agreement if it voted to Leave.

Despite this, rifts were said to have re-emerged in January 2017, following the revelation that a dossier claiming Russia possessed compromising information on Trump had been compiled by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent. These were compounded by Trump's assertion a few days later, in an interview with The Times and Bild that NATO had become "obsolete", which reportedly was regarded "deeply unsettling" by the British government. Relations with the incoming administration were also reported as being negatively impacted by the United Kingdom's vote in favour of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. However Portland was also said to have come into conflict with President Barack Obama in his last days in office, after it was announced that he would commute the sentence of Cablegate hacker Chelsea Manning; Portland is reported to have sent a "bluntly worded letter" to Obama that the decision was incongruous with previous claims by U.S. intelligence on WikiLeaks' role in Russian interference in the American presidential elections and undermined efforts to oppose similar Russian interference in other nations' domestic politics, especially with regards to upcoming elections in Germany and France.

Portland was the first world leader to congratulate Trump on his inauguration on 20 January 2017, and Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump, on 26-27 January 2017.

The Commonwealth

See also: Community of common destiny

Middle East

Friendly ties with Bahrain, whose pro-British attitude was reflected by its King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who at a 2013 diplomatic had expressed agreement with the sentiment of his father and predecessor Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, upon being told that Whitehall intended to grant them independence, who remarked "Why? Has anyone asked you to leave?". Has opened Britain's first new base East of Suez, HMS Juffair. These are mirrored in ties with Oman, which will host another new British overseas base.

Has however been cool towards Saudi Arabia, and in October 2016, following an air raid on a funeral in Sana'a by the Saudi-led coalition, announced a moratorium on arms sales to the Saudi military. Previously, he has expressed concern at Saudi support for the dissemination of fundamentalist Salafi beliefs about Islam, saying that they had "done much to spread extremism across the Islamic world" and "radicalising in place" Muslims in Europe. In 2015, at a G7 summit, he was reported to have stated his fears about Saudi-funded Salafi preachers radicalising Syrian refugees.

Shown support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and was reported as the first European leader to call Erdogan to condemn the attempted coup d'état attempt in July 2016, just two days after Portland entered office.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

In the past, Portland has expressed support for Israel and its actions in the Arab-Israeli conflict. During the 2006 Lebanon War he claimed that Israel's invasion was "justified by Hezbollah's terrorist attacks" and said their blockade of Gaza against the ruling "Hamas", which he labelled a "terrorist gang", was not only fully justified, but enjoyed the support of both Fatah and the Egyptian government. As Foreign Secretary, Portland later softened on the latter view (which was contrary to official government policy opposing the blockade). However, more recently, Portland has been increasingly critical of Israeli policy; during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, he said that while the "terrorists" in Hamas's use of civilians and civilian facilities such as homes, schools, and hospitals as human shields was "abominable, diabolical, and odious to any person with even the slightest sense of moral judgement" and reflected their "utter disregard for human life aside from serving as martyred victims in a propaganda war", Israeli airstrikes were "disproportionate" and only served to undermine Israel's standing in the international community and "affirm the worst notions about Israeli views on peace". He argued that the Iron Dome missile defence system, whose development the United Kingdom had "fully supported", all but neutralised the threat of Hamas rockets and meant that its air campaign in Gaza served "no strategic purpose".

In 2016, following the United Kingdom's vote in favour of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank as illegal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate against the UK and impose sanctions. This set into motion a diplomatic row between Israel and the U.K., in which an Israeli diplomat, who was revealed to have made threats against pro-Palestinian junior minister Alan Duncan, was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country. Portland commented that Israeli settlement policy and "talk of 'Judea and Samaria'" seemed "to betray a refusal to acknowledge any part whatsoever of the West Bank as Palestinian territory". Reiterating that he was "fundamentally pro-Israel", Portland said that Israel was "veering towards a one-state reality" which would "extinguish permanently its chances of remaining either a Jewish or democratic state", which prompted condemnations from the Israeli foreign ministry. However, he has rejected calls from opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to set up an inquiry into Israeli influence in British politics, saying that it would "do nothing but stir-up tired and pernicious anti-Semitic tropes."

Libya

Chief accomplishment to date

Cyprus

Taken a leading role in talks. British diplomatic sources have however expressed fear that Russia may be trying to undermine a potential accord.

Science and research

As part of his vision to "seize the future" and a "Global Britain for the 21st century and beyond", Portland has vowed to increase UK space exploration and research spending to 0.5% of the annual budget, or £3.65 billion. In a speech at the European Space Agency headquarters, Portland promised to increase the UK's contribution to the ESA by £1 billion, making it the largest contributor, with the remaining £2.6 billion making up the budget of the UK Space Agency (renamed the Space Research and Exploration Agency—SERA), comprising an eight-fold increase in its budget, and the world's third largest national space budget after NASA and Roscosmos. In 2016, SERA took over as leading partner in the Skylon spacecraft programme, taking a 49% percent stake in its parent company and jumpstarting development, with first flight scheduled for 2020. In December 2016, it was announced that Glasgow Prestwick Airport, on the nomination of the Scottish Government, would serve as the UK's first commercial spaceport, and its runway would be doubled in length.

Portland also pledged to more than double British public and private sector research and development spending by 2020, with Chancellor Nicky Morgan announcing an immediate £2 billion boost for basic research funding in the 2016 Autumn Statement and promising further tax credits to encourage private sector expenditure with the aim of reaching 2.5% of GDP in 2020. He has said the UK must "rebuild" its R&D infrastructure and spur innovation.

Defence policy

Defence funding

In the 2017 manifesto the Conservatives pledged to raise defence spending to 3.0% of GDP and restore the armed forces to their 1997 size.

Education

Supports grammar schools.