It beat the baseball cap. William Hague’s trip to the DRC and Rwanda created several wonderful photo opportunities with no less a figure than Angelina Jolie. It would be wrong to say that Hague’s interest in the victims of rape in Africa is mere PR: Hague is convinced that action must be taken to eradicate these crimes; and, at next month’s G8 summit, he will use Britain’s diplomatic clout on human rights to encourage international authorities to pursue and prosecute men who contravene the Geneva Convention and the Statute of the International Criminal Court by using rape as a weapon in conflict.
Yet it would also be naive to say that there is no direct political benefit to his public concerns. The government (and the Conservative party in particular) has a woman problem; a problem that must be addressed.
Hague gave an interview to Woman’s Hour this morning. It was soft territory: 10 minutes talking to Jenni Murray about the outrage of rape, while providing a plan of action to punish crimes and effect attitudinal changes. But it was an assured performance nonetheless. Hague’s watchwords were ‘care’, ‘justice’, ‘protection’, ‘help’ and ‘removing stigma’, and he used them repeatedly. He emphasised the role of the international aid budget to fund relief, education, health programmes and so forth in war zones. Justine Greening’s international aid budget, he said, would ‘move the dial on this’. Then he spoke about his plan for next month’s G8 summit (mentioned above).
It was simple but canny politics. What began as a statement of solidarity ended as a clear expression of policy. If some listeners of the programme believed foreign policy to be a matter of gunships and white tie banquets, they might have been disabused by Hague’s compassion and determination.
This will not, of course, solve the Tories’ problems with female voters (the fault line runs much deeper than rape in Africa); but it indicates how language might overcome the problem in time. Too often Conservative politicians patronise, which raises the suspicion that they don’t understand or care about women voters’ various concerns. Hague demonstrated that it’s best to be empathetic, and to show how policy flows from principles and practicalities: we must do this because of A, B and C; we will go about it this way because of x, y and z.
Tories would do well to listen to Hague’s interview, especially those who want to have a conversation about abortion limits or further welfare cuts. There is nothing wrong with discussing abortion limits or further welfare cuts, only when discussed insensitively.
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