Examination of Witnesses (Quesitons 20-39)
MR JACK
MCCONNELL
MSP
23 APRIL 2008
Q20 Mr. Horam: You will lose the
job as an MSP as well. You say in your letter to us: "I have
decided to remain as a Member of the Scottish Parliament because
I feel I have a duty to my constituents to work on their behalf"[2]2.
That duty has not gone away; you were elected to represent them
and you may have to give up halfway through.
Mr. McConnell: That is possible.
That would obviously be determined by the starting date of the
position, but that is a judgment that my constituents would understand.
Q21 Mr. Horam: When will the vacancy
actually occur?
Mr. McConnell: The current High
Commissioner leaves at the end of January next year, but the Foreign
Office does not announce the successor or the agreed contractual
starting date until nearer the time.
Q22 Mr. Horam: But the expectation
will be that you would take over in January next year?
Mr. McConnell: I think the expectation
is that I would take over at an appropriate point after January
next year.
Q23 Mr. Horam: That could not be
too long.
Mr. McConnell: We are still in
discussion about that and I am not at liberty to comment on that
today.
Q24 Mr. Horam: There would not be
a period when you were both an MSP and a High Commissioner?
Mr. McConnell: There would not
be a period when I am both an MSP and a High Commissioner.
Q25 Mr. Horam: So we would have to
have a by-election in the Scottish Parliament?
Mr. McConnell: Depending on the
starting date for the position, that may well be the case.
Mr. Horam: Right.
Q26 Mr. Keetch: You answered Mr.
Hamilton's question about any concerns you might have about you
being a Labour party official. I am frankly, with respect, more
worried about the fact that you are a Scot and that you are the
former First Minister of Scotland because you are there not to
represent Scotland, but to represent Britain. If I were an English
businessman wanting to do business in Malawi and there was a Scottish
businessman wanting to do the same sort of business, my concern
would be that because of your involvement in Malawi through the
Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Executive and so on, somehow
you might be more favourable to that Scottish side than to the
English or the Welsh. I cannot quite understand what the Scottish
Executive is doing giving aid to Malawi or anywhere else. Are
we going to have a situation where you have a Welsh ambassador
in Patagonia because they speak Welsh?
Why is there this link between Scotland and
Malawi? I can understand the historical link and the Church of
Scotland link, but I cannot understand what the Scottish Executive
are doing spending £2 million of aid in Malawi. If I were
an English or a Welsh businessman seeking to do business in Malawi,
my concern would not be that you were a Labour party man, but
that Scotland would be represented well out there, but England,
Wales and Northern Ireland might not be.
Mr. McConnell: Can I address both
those points? I think there are two points. On the geographical
impartiality of the position, as much as its political impartiality,
I would not have taken on this position if I did not intend to
serve the whole United Kingdom and do so in an even-handed and
constructive manner. It may be useful, particularly for this Committee
and not just in connection with this post, for me to stress that
the relationship between Scotland and Malawi that has been renewed
these last three years is not about a relatively small aid budget
that supports development projects. It is very much in keeping
with the Scotland Act.
The Scotland Act said that the new devolved
Government of Scotland back in 1999 could act overseas in support
of the work of the British Government, which is what we were doing. We
liaised very carefully and closely with Hilary Benn, who was then
Secretary of State for International Development. He was very
encouraging of what we did. We took the approach from 2004 onwards
that any work we did in international development should encourage
people-to-people contact and people-to-people support rather than
try to duplicate or complicate the work of the Department for
International Development.
The money that is allocated is not so much allocated
as aid in the way that UK Government money is allocated as donor
aid, it is allocated to support joint projects between Scotland
and Malawi that have a practical impact in the country. For example,
we support a clinics project which basically has doctors in Tayside
in Scotland at the end of the phone to doctors in rural Malawi
who can then get advice if they have a case in front on them.
We support teacher exchanges. We support business exchanges which
try to build up business in Malawi by giving advice from retired
business people in Scotland. So it is all very practical, skills-based
exchanges, rather than straightforward donor aid in the way that
DFID would fund.
Q27 Mr. Keetch: But you would certainly
be keen to encourage such things from the rest of the UK.
Mr. McConnell: I do already. For
example, last Thursday I was involved in a discussion with St.
Andrews University about a collaborative project that it has established
with the University of Birmingham and perhaps another university
in England. The medical schools of the three universities will
be working with the University of Malawi medical school to increase
the number of doctors in training in Malawi. That contact was
made by me. Someone from Birmingham wrote to me. I put them in
touch with St. Andrews. They got together and did all that. I
am already working with people across the UK.
Mr. Keetch: I am grateful.
Q28 Sandra Osborne: Jack, for the
record, could I ask you some questions about the terms and conditions
of the appointment? Is it intended that your appointment as High
Commissioner will be subject to any terms and conditions which
differ from the routine terms and conditions of the diplomatic
service? If so, what are they?
Mr. McConnell: We are still involved
in discussions that will lead to the signing of a contract. I
also understand that the Foreign Office does not normally discuss
publicly the detailed terms and conditions of people who are appointed.
But I would want to be absolutely clear with the Committee that
at no time have I suggested and at no time has anyone suggested
to me that the terms and conditions, the salary, the other arrangements
for this post would either be better or worse than they would
normally have been for any other incumbent. There has been no
suggestion on my part or anyone else's part that that would be
case.
Q29 Sandra Osborne: Other than the
general terms and conditions in the contract, are there any other
negotiations still to take place in relation to your appointment?
Mr. McConnell: As I said, we are
still discussing starting dates and other arrangements. That is
not because there has been any disagreement or extended discussion,
but simply that it was not a priority during the past six months
for either them or me to sort out such detail. We shall do so
during the next few months after which an appropriate agreement
will be signed. Nobody is expecting it to be anything out of the
ordinary.
Q30 Sandra Osborne: When would you
expect to sign the contract?
Mr. McConnell: To be honest, I
am not sure what the normal position would be, but whenever it
would be normal to do so.
Q31 Sandra Osborne: Do you feel it
appropriate for the Committee to have a copy of the contract?
Mr. McConnell: That is not a matter
for me. It would be a matter for the Foreign Office.
Q32 Sandra Osborne: Will it be a
fixed-term contract?
Mr. McConnell: I anticipate that
it would be, yes. The assumption is that it will be a three-year,
fixed-term contract.
Q33 Sir John Stanley: What is your
expectation of how much longer you will continue as a Member of
the Scottish Parliament?
Mr. McConnell: I do not have a
particular expectation about that because we have not yet decided
on a formal start date for the position in Malawi. When we have
an agreed starting date, I anticipate leaving the Scottish Parliament
a few months before I am due to start in Malawi.
Q34 Sir John Stanley: When does your
present election period come to an end?
Mr. McConnell: The election last
year was for four years, so the next formal general election date
to the Scottish Parliament will be 2011.
Q35 Sir John Stanley: In the normal
case, assuming that you took up your appointment at some point
in 2009 there would be a by-election in your seat.
Mr. McConnell: If the appointment
began in 2009, that would be the case. The Foreign Office has
been very clear with me and I am very content with the position
that it would not normally decide on the starting date of succeeding
High Commissioners until nearer the end of the term of office
of the existing High Commissioner. That is for all kinds of reasons,
partly because conditions could change in the country and continuity
might be wanted, or a period might be wanted when other skills
are brought in to serve. I understand that completely. I do not
have any expectation that the new position will start early next
year—or even next year. That is still to be determined,
and it will be determined by the interests of the UK Government
and the Foreign Office in Malawi and in the region.
Q36 Sir John Stanley: Is there any
relationship between the date on which you take up the post as
High Commissioner and the date and timing of the by-election in
your seat?
Mr. McConnell: There have been
no discussions between me and the FCO that would combine the issue
of the by-election with the issue of the starting date. At no
time has that come up in discussions with anybody in the Foreign
Office.
Q37 Sir John Stanley: Can you give
the Committee an unequivocal assurance that there will be no delay
in your taking up your post as a result of the timing of the by-election
considerations in your Scottish Parliament seat?
Mr. McConnell: I can give the
Committee an assurance that the starting date would not be influenced
by an effort to pick a particular date for a by-election, but
I want to be very clear as the assumption is that the starting
date is automatically 1 February next year because the current
High Commissioner's posting comes to an end in January. The Prime
Minister's announcement in August last year—it was agreed
at the time with the Foreign Office—stated very clearly
"at an appropriate time thereafter", given that the
current High Commissioner's posting comes to an end in January
2009. I understand exactly why that was said. A judgment has to
be made about who is the right person to be High Commissioner
at any given time in Malawi. Circumstances could change over the
next few months that might lead to a different skills set being
need for a certain time. I respect that. I have been very relaxed
about it. I am relaxed about being in the Scottish Parliament
for another 12 months or for longer. I do not mind. I am happy
to take the advice of the Foreign Office about that rather than
set terms that suit me or a party political interest.
Q38 Mr. Keetch: When did you first
go to Malawi?
Mr. McConnell: I first went to
Malawi in May 2005.
Q39 Mr. Keetch: Excellent. You are
obviously working closely with the existing High Commissioner;
well, you obviously know the High Commissioner. You mentioned
that you will be spending some time with another High Commissioner
in the run-up to your appointment. How will that work? Will it
be like shadowing or an "internship"?
Mr. McConnell: It will be a shadowing
period. The Foreign Office will chose the most appropriate person
for me to shadow and I will spend some time with them as they
carry out their duties.
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