Cricket: Zimbabwe Tour: Blair Opposes Tour But Will Not Intervene
May 6: Tony Blair repeated his "preference" that England's tour of Zimbabwe should be cancelled but would not order the team to stay at home.
Tony Blair said yesterday that, despite his opposition to England's proposed tour of Zimbabwe this autumn, he will not intervene to prevent it going ahead.
Speaking ahead of today's meeting between the foreign secretary Jack Straw, culture secretary Tessa Jowell and the England and Wales Cricket Board, the prime minister repeated the government's "preference" that the tour be cancelled and blamed the International Cricket Council for not taking a stronger moral line.
Replying to a question from the Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, Blair said that for the government to order the team to stay at home would be to "step over the proper line".
"What's your personal opinion as to whether the English cricket team should undertake their tour of Zimbabwe? Personally I am against, are you against?" Kennedy asked.
"My personal opinion was, as I said then, that we would prefer them not to go," Blair said. "But there is a difference between doing that and ordering them not to go which I think would step over the proper line.
"The foreign secretary is meeting the ECB tomorrow. I think many people, however, believe that the problem actually resides with the ICC."
Blair's comments come after a series of statements from Straw designed to assist the ECB in opting out of the tour without financial penalty. Despite promising the Zimbabwe Cricket Union last year that England would tour, the ECB is known to be reluctant to fulfil its commitment.
The ICC president Ehsan Mani said Blair's comments were an attempt to escape scrutiny over his government's policy towards Zimbabwe and force cricket into making a political decision. "It is disappointing but unsurprising that a politician should attempt to shift the blame in this way.
"I was recently in Zimbabwe and I was struck by the number of British businesses that are free to operate in Harare including British Airways and Barclays Bank. If the government wanted to apply sanctions on Zimbabwe, it could."
The government maintains that it does not have the power to prevent sports teams travelling and has ruled out seeking statutory powers to do so.
Speaking ahead of today's meeting between the foreign secretary Jack Straw, culture secretary Tessa Jowell and the England and Wales Cricket Board, the prime minister repeated the government's "preference" that the tour be cancelled and blamed the International Cricket Council for not taking a stronger moral line.
Replying to a question from the Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, Blair said that for the government to order the team to stay at home would be to "step over the proper line".
"What's your personal opinion as to whether the English cricket team should undertake their tour of Zimbabwe? Personally I am against, are you against?" Kennedy asked.
"My personal opinion was, as I said then, that we would prefer them not to go," Blair said. "But there is a difference between doing that and ordering them not to go which I think would step over the proper line.
"The foreign secretary is meeting the ECB tomorrow. I think many people, however, believe that the problem actually resides with the ICC."
Blair's comments come after a series of statements from Straw designed to assist the ECB in opting out of the tour without financial penalty. Despite promising the Zimbabwe Cricket Union last year that England would tour, the ECB is known to be reluctant to fulfil its commitment.
The ICC president Ehsan Mani said Blair's comments were an attempt to escape scrutiny over his government's policy towards Zimbabwe and force cricket into making a political decision. "It is disappointing but unsurprising that a politician should attempt to shift the blame in this way.
"I was recently in Zimbabwe and I was struck by the number of British businesses that are free to operate in Harare including British Airways and Barclays Bank. If the government wanted to apply sanctions on Zimbabwe, it could."
The government maintains that it does not have the power to prevent sports teams travelling and has ruled out seeking statutory powers to do so.
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