"Sir,-

The appointment of Harlow MP Bill Rammell to the Foreign Office suggests that Labour have finally given up on Harlow. If Labour believed there was a hope of holding this seat, they would have kept him at home looking after his wafer-thin majority, rather than giving him an overseas portfolio including the Middle East and the USA which will keep his attention abroad until the next election.

However, any worries this appointment may give Bill's Harlow constituents are as nothing, compared to the concerns which may justifiably be felt abroad. For Harlow's MP is no stranger to the Foreign Office. During his last tour of duty there, it was Bill who was responsible for blocking the attempts of thousands of Chagossian islanders to return to their rightful home in Diego Garcia. The government's approach to this matter was described by two judges at a high court appeal as illegal, repugnant and irrational.

And now reports in the national media suggest that when last in the Foreign Office, Bill Rammell had been personally informed by the Red Cross of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by American forces in Abu Ghraib jail. However, it is reported that he did nothing, and apparently failed to pass on the information about this international scandal to any other member of the Government. Two months later, Tony Blair said that neither he nor his ministers were aware of what was going on at Abu Ghraib. Why hadn't Bill told him?

Given his previous record at the Foreign Office, Bill Rammell's appointment must be viewed with considerable alarm - and not a little outrage.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr Lorna Spenceley
Liberal Democrat"