(U) SCENESETTER FOR SECRETARY RICE'S VISIT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 002212 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR THE SECRETARY FROM AMBASSADOR TUTTLE E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016 TAGS: OVIP PGOV PREL MARR ECON UK SUBJECT: (U) SCENESETTER FOR SECRETARY RICE'S VISIT TO BLACKBURN AND LIVERPOOL Classified By: Ambassador Robert H. Tuttle. Reasons 1.4 (b, d). (U) Summary and Overview -------------- ¶1. (U) Your visit to Blackburn and Liverpool represents an opportunity to allow Foreign Secretary Straw to reciprocate your hospitality during his visit to Birmingham last October. My wife and I look forward to your visit and to accompanying you and the Foreign Secretary during what promises to be a most enjoyable weekend. Straw not only wants to show you his constituency of Blackburn but also wants you to see first-hand that Northwest England is a prosperous, multi-ethnic society with a rich culture and history but with eyes firmly fixed on the future. ¶2. (U) The town of Blackburn, dating back to the 6th century, remained a village until the Industrial Revolution when the cotton industry, breweries, railroads and canals transformed it into a bustling town. The decline of the cotton industry in the 20th century brought decline to the town as well, but you will see -- everywhere -- the results of current efforts to revitalize Blackburn, from the modern hospital and the riverside leisure complex to the thriving aerospace industry and excellent schools. Blackburn also has implemented a major regeneration effort to enhance its attractiveness as the Enterprise Capital of the North West. The town has worked to foster an environment conducive to business growth with the intent of creating more and better jobs. The strategy being employed seeks to build on the region's manufacturing base and diversify into more high-tech and services industries. Included is an effort to enhance foreign trade and investment connections. ¶3. (U) Liverpool has undergone substantial regeneration in the past decade, and it now has one of the strongest economic growth rates among all UK cities with a rate of 5.9 percent in 2005. Years of structural decline in its manufacturing and port activities following World War II led to large job losses and high unemployment, but those trends are being reversed. Though unemployment in Liverpool is about 8 percent compared with the UK average of 5 percent, job creation has been occurring at a higher pace than in the rest of the UK. Net new business startups in Merseyside have grown by around 2 percent in recent years, outpacing the national average and reflecting the positive efforts to attract investment and business activities in the city and region. The city of Liverpool also has been physically revitalized following its naming as European Capital of Culture for 2008. ¶4. (U) During your three-day stop you will have the opportunity to visit commercial, cultural, religious (both Christian and Muslim),and educational institutions in both Blackburn and Liverpool. While your schedule did not permit you to visit while Straw's beloved Blackburn Rovers soccer team was playing a home game, your foreign policy address and a press event will take place in their stadium. (U) Blackburn -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The Rt. Hon Jack Straw is the MP for Blackburn, Lancashire, in the North West of England. The constituency, a famous old mill town that was a key center for textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution, is relatively poor and has a large Muslim population. The constituency has been held by a Labour MP since its creation in the 1950s. Straw faced a fight in the last General Election. In what should have been a rock-solid Labour seat, Straw became vulnerable because many of Blackburn,s 25,000 Muslim voters were angered by the war in Iraq. In the run up to the election, anti-war protesters agitated for the Foreign Secretary's defeat. He was challenged by former British SIPDIS ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray who ran on a platform of opposition to the war in Iraq. The anti-war vote was split, however, between the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and other anti-war parties. Straw retained his seat with a comfortable majority of 8000 (although his share of the vote went down from 53 per cent in 2001 to 42 per cent in 2005). ¶6. (SBU) On May 4 local elections will take place across England, including in Blackburn. Presently, Labour is in charge with 33 of 64 councilors. However, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are close behind with 17 and 11 respectively. In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging and corruption began to grow around the Labour controlled council. A local councilor, Muhammed Hussain, was jailed for rigging an election by stealing postal vote ballots, which could have a serious effect on Labour in this year's election. There are also fears that the far right British-National-Party might gain seats. (U) Liverpool -------------- ¶7. (U) Liverpool, Great Britain's fifth largest city, is part of the district of Merseyside. Situated about 5 miles inland from the Irish Sea, Liverpool boomed during the nineteenth century as a port town when it was the "Second Port of the Empire" after London. Since that time, the population has been falling at a faster rate than any other English City: from 850,000 in the early 1950s to 450,000 today. During the 1980,s the city fell on hard times with high crime and unemployment, but since that time it has undergone successful regeneration and recently beat off stiff competition to be named as European Capital of Culture for 2008, winning the award in recognition of the city's vision, enthusiasm and first class cultural heritage. In preparation for 2008, a BPS 750 million regeneration of the city center is in progress. Liverpool is recognized worldwide for being at the center of the explosion of popular music in the 1960s and for Liverpool Football Club. ¶8. (U) All five of Liverpool's MPs are Labour. Locally, the story is a bit different. In the 1980s, the very left-wing "Militant" movement, led by Derek Hatton, gained control of the local Labour council and famously took on Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government. The Militant movement was denounced by the then-leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock. In the 1990s the council had the highest local taxes but delivered the worst services. As a result, the Liberal Democrats won control of the council in the 1990s and have held on to it ever since. Of the 90 locally elected councilors, 60 are Liberal Democrats, 27 are Labour and 3 are Liberal. One third of the council is running for re-election this May -- but even if every voter failed to vote Liberal Democrat, this would not change the overall composition of the council: it will remain in the control of the Liberal Democrats. (U) BAE Systems/JSF -------------- ¶9. (U) You will have the opportunity to visit BAE Systems, just outside of Blackburn, which is one of the assembly facilities for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). BAE plays a leading commercial role in North West England where it sits at the heart of a defense cluster of national importance. With an annual turnover of BPS 4 billion, it provides more than 35,000 jobs in the area. In addition to the JSF, BAE is involved in air systems such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Tornado, Hawk and Nimrod. ¶10. (SBU) The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is being vociferously criticized in the British press by those who would like to demonstrate that the U.S. is not a reliable ally and by those who seek greater industrial participation in the program. This criticism is the result of two issues within the JSF program: -- The cancellation of the GE/Rolls Royce engine contract, and, -- The inability of the U.S. to guarantee at this point that the UK will have access to all technology that would allow Britain to maintain and upgrade its own aircraft. ¶11. (SBU) The cancellation of the second engine is not only a matter of money and jobs for the UK but also pride. The engine was canceled by DoD for budgetary reasons, and the cancellation is expected to save the program USD 1.8 billion through FY2011. Otherwise, the UK is doing very well recouping its USD 2 billion investment, having earned contracts in the development phase alone worth more than that. At full production, contracts for UK companies could reach several times that amount. However, in his March 14 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Minister for Defense Procurement Lord Drayson argued that, as a Level 1 partner, the UK should have been consulted on the matter. ¶12. (SBU) On technology sharing, the British participants in JSF are receiving everything they are contractually entitled to receive and on time. However, since the Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS) released in December mandates that HMG should have "appropriate operational sovereignty" over its defense equipment, HMG and BAE are pushing for much more and would like U.S. assurances that this will be possible prior to the December signing of the MOU covering UK involvement in the program. British complaints about tech transfer are long-standing and predate the JSF program. But JSF transfer issues are particularly sensitive, because in addition to being our closest ally, the UK is also a partner on the JSF program not just a customer. In his March 14 testimony, Lord Drayson said the UK would pull out of the JSF program if its tech transfer issues are not resolved by December. We think this is largely posturing, as the alternatives are much more expensive. ¶13. (SBU) This issue is being used by those wishing to illustrate that the UK will not reap any benefits from its loyalty to the U.S. in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. You will likely be called upon to demonstrate that the U.S. respects and trusts the UK. You may wish to highlight that U.S.-UK cooperation is mutually beneficial in everything from Iraq to Iran to human rights and democratization. This includes, perhaps especially, the JSF program from which thousands of jobs have already been created in the UK. (U) Pleckgate High School, Mathematics and Computing College -------------- -------------- ¶14. (U) Pleckgate School was chosen for your visit because it is an example of academic excellence achieved in an unpromising socio-economic milieu. The facility is a large (nearly 1200 pupils) secondary school for boys and girls, aged 11-16, and has very good links to the community. The student body is about one-third white British, with a majority of ethnic Asian (Indian, Pakistani) pupils. More than half the pupils speak English as a second language. You will have an opportunity to view the school's facilities and chat with the student council. (U) Ewood Park -------------- ¶15. (U) The Blackburn Rovers football club, founded in 1875, is Jack Straw's "home team." The renovated stadium seats about 30,000 and includes a conference and banqueting center. You will meet some of the players, including goalkeeper Brad Friedel, a U.S. citizen, and view player facilities and trophies. The conference center within the stadium will be the site of your foreign policy speech. Foreign Secretary Straw will also deliver an address during this session which is being co-organized by Chatham House. ¶16. (U) Blackburn Cathedral is Lancashire,s only Anglican cathedral. Although there has been a church on this site for centuries, the present building was consecrated in 1826. The colossal structure on the eastern gable, &The Healing of the Nations," is an abstract steel and copper circular piece in which fiber optics between two copper skins make all seven tons of the sculpture slowly &pulse" or &breathe," creating changing patterns of light. School children and members of the local community contributed ideas for the piece. You will have a private visit inside the cathedral during which you will hear the choir and meet with the Bishop. (C) Blackburn Mosque -------------- ¶17. (C) For security reasons, this portion of the visit is being kept close-hold and unannounced until shortly before you arrive. You will meet with the Imam and other Mosque officials and observe a female-only religious instruction class. (U) Blackburn Town Hall/Constituency Office -------------- ¶18. (U) Built in the 1850s, the Town Hall will be the site of your meeting with Muslim leaders, civic leaders and the town Council, and it is the site of a press event following your visit to the mosque. You will then accompany Straw for a short visit to his small constituency office where you will greet his staff. (U) Hoghton Tower -------------- ¶19. (U) Your lunch with the traveling press takes place at Hoghton Tower -- a beautiful example of English Renaissance architecture. Hoghton Tower is famous as the site of the knighting of the loin of beef (&Sir Loin") by King James I of England in 1617. There is some evidence that William Shakespeare spent time at Hoghton Tower in the 1580s working as a tutor. The tower is still in the Hoghton family but open to the public, and it is an opportunity for Straw to demonstrate how people in this region treasure the past while building the future. (C) Hope Street Hotel -------------- ¶20. (C) Your hotel is located in an area on the upswing, the chic Hope Street Quarter, between Liverpool's two cathedrals, across the street from the newly-restored Philharmonic Hall. The landmark 1860 building, in the style of a Venetian Palazzo, was originally home to the London Carriage Works and is a prime example of economic revival in a once-derelict part of the city. On your way to the Maritime Museum in the revitalized Albert Dock area, you will see the forest of building cranes that are transforming Liverpool -- the Paradise Street shopping center now under construction will be Europe's largest shopping area. (U) Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA) -------------- -------------- ¶21. (U) Sir Paul McCartney helped transform this school -- his and fellow Beatle George Harrison's former grammar school -- into a world-class performing arts institute with 630 students, one third of whom come from outside the UK. You will have an opportunity to greet students and observe a performance. (U) Liverpool Philharmonic -------------- ¶22. (U) Opened in 1849, rebuilt in 1939, and restored in 1995, the Philharmonic Hall presents 250 concerts and other events every year. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the world's oldest, gives over 60 concerts a year in this hall. You will hear a concert by the Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by a dinner, during which you will have the opportunity to meet Philharmonic officials and Liverpool dignitaries. (U) Maritime Museum -------------- ¶23. (U) The Merseyside Maritime Museum commemorates Liverpool's historic role as a port and trading center. Liverpool dominated the transatlantic slave trade from about 1750 to 1807 when slavery was abolished in Britain, and the Museum has an important and moving exhibit on the slave trade. The slavery exhibit was inaugurated by Maya Angelou. (U) Liverpool Cathedral -------------- ¶24. (C) Liverpool Cathedral (Church of England) is England's largest. Construction began in 1904 and was finally completed in 1978. You will attend Sunday services with the Foreign Secretary. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle