Tag Archives: taleban

Stephen Tall

Erm, Ed, “tea with the Taleban” – perhaps it’s time to get a new speech-writer?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 21st September 2009 - 4:57 pm

Reader, it pains me to write this – especially as it means I’m partially agreeing with Iain Dale – but it needs saying. This is what Ed Davey, our shadow foreign secretary said yesterday in his speech to conference:

… it’s time for tea with the Taleban – and tea with the multitude of local tribal Afghan insurgent leaders.

When I first saw it reported that Ed had called for “tea with the Taleban”, I assumed it was a paraphrase ad absurdum – a bit like David Cameron’s ‘hug a hoodie’, a phrase he never actually uttered. But, no, I’m …

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