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| Africa: Southern | |
| Call off cricket tour to Bobland, say Tories | |
| 2004-01-23 | |
| EFL The Conservatives have accused the Foreign Office of "dithering" over the English cricket team’s planned tour of Zimbabwe in November. Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said the trip would "give succour" to President Robert Mugabe. No it won’t. It will be an opportunity for the MDU to hold massive demonstrations - televised. In a letter to Jack Straw, he called for the Foreign Office to advise the English Cricket Board (ECB) to cancel the tour. The ECB is to decide next week whether to go ahead with the tour. Mr Ancram said the Foreign Office’s failure to take a lead on the matter was "stupefying". Mr Mugabe would use the tour to "bask in the media spotlight", Mr Ancram said. I doubt that Bob’s pig sty will look good on world-wide TV. But Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman-in-office of the Commonwealth, said the tour "should be used as an instrument of friendship. Even when the political relationship is frosty, sport can be used to warm up the frostiness," he said.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the ECB had asked for the Foreign Office’s views and had been briefed on the social and political situation in Zimbabwe. However, she said: "We’ve always made it clear that it’s a matter for the ECB to decide." She refused to say whether the Foreign Office felt the tour should go ahead. We refuse to make any public decision that we might be held accountable for. We haven’t heard back from our focus groups. The controversy over the tour comes a year after England dropped out of a World Cup cricket match in Zimbabwe, citing concerns for players’ safety. Hose’s recommendation: send the team and camera crews - investigative journalist types preferred - on a voluntary basis. Dress some SAS guys in civies to replace anyone that doesn’t want to go. Like the Turkish football match -approve no other Visa’s. Bob wants the cash flow. | |
| Posted by:Super Hose |