BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The New Year started with yet another welcome affirmation from the British Government of the importance of the 54-nation Commonwealth.
Hugo Swire, who was appointed Minister of State for the Commonwealth last summer, published an Opinion in the Daily Telegraph in London on January 2 in which he said that the Commonwealth “is an important institution” that can “through dedication and reform become stronger and speak with a louder voice than ever before”.
This is the second time since his appointment that Minister Swire has published his positive view of the Commonwealth.  In doing so, he is echoing the position of his predecessor, Lord Howell, who, with Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Secretary, William Hague, was keen to assert Britain’s renewed interest in the Commonwealth from the time that the present Conservative-Liberal coalition government took office in May 2010.