Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 24 June 2008.
I know that my hon. Friend has championed the importance of Lebanon not just to the Lebanese people but in terms of security and stability across the middle east, and he is absolutely right to do so. I think that it is the nomination of a Government that is currently held up, and I spoke to Prime Minister Siniora about that when I was in Lebanon and last week, in advance of yesterday's and today's conference in Austria on the rebuilding of the Palestinian refugee camps. The nomination of the Government will take place and, next year, there will also be elections for a new Government. I very much hope that all the parties will recognise their interest in pursuing a stable strategy in advance of those elections, and in allowing them to take place in conditions as close to normality—certainly without violence—as possible.