Tories call for ban on cricket tour of Zimbabwe
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Your support makes all the difference.Jack Straw was under pressure yesterday to veto England's planned cricket tour of Zimbabwe next autumn amid concern that the trip would endorse the regime of President Robert Mugabe.
Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary, urged Mr Straw to intervene to prevent a repeat of the "shambles" before England pulled out of a match in Harare during the Cricket World Cup.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has pledged to take a final decision about the planned tour at the end of February. Tim Lamb, the ECB chairman, has already conceded the board will have to balance political and moral as well as sporting considerations when deciding on the tour.
But any decision to go ahead would meet with fierce opposition because Mr Mugabe has removed Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.
Mr Ancram said in his letter to the Foreign Secretary: "Is there not now a strong case for a more hands-on approach from the British Government in advising the ECB?
"I understand that the ECB has put off a decision on the tour until as late as February or March next year. Would it not be better for the Government to take a lead and put a stop to this tour now rather than risk a repeat of the shambles surrounding last year's World Cup."
Derek Wyatt, the Labour chairman of the Commons all-party Zimbabwe group, said: "We are seeing the Commonwealth Secretary General on 6 January and then we will have an idea of how the land lies. After that we plan to see Tim Lamb in the New Year. We will tell him not to go.
"It would be mad for them to go. They would be crazy to go. As [former South African president Nelson] Mandela said, no sport in an abnormal society. Eight million people are dying. We should not not prop up this regime."
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