Letters From A Tory

Dear Gordon Brown,

This letter is not intended to criticise you per se, as I detest Robert Mugabe as much as the next person, but the financial and social difficulties facing Zimbabwe are complicated from the perspective of international relations and your ‘tough guy’ act might not be the best ploy.

What the British media often forgets is that despite many EU member states being quite happy to shun Mugabe at every available opportunity, he is well supported by several African nations including South Africa.  For example, the forceful removal of land from white farmers in Zimbabwe was viewed with horror and disdain in the UK whereas people in relatively deprived African nations - who still feel the effects of historical white dominance - were not too bothered about the whole thing.  As has been suggested in the papers today, should Robert Mugabe be excluded from the summit in Portugal it is more than likely that other African leaders will pull out immediately, which would surely dilute the credibility of the talks.  I’m not saying that giving Mugabe the cold shoulder is necessarily the wrong thing to do, but trying to muscle him out of international discussions could potentially have undesirable consequences and may weaken support within Africa for removing him from power.

Yours sincerely,

A.Tory