"P|GIBRALTAR British orSpanish?

by Dr. Peter Gold ■ reviewed by Mike Brutal (Routledge Advances in European Politics £70)

Dr Peter Gold is Principal Lecturer and Head of the School of Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies at the University ofthe West of England. He is author of A Stone in Spain's Shoe: The Search for a Solution to the Problem of Gibraltar A Contemporary Study ofthe Spanish North African Enclaves of Ceuta and MeiiHa.

Do not be put oft by the title, the price or the fact that the Span ish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia in Madrid provided 'Accioneit integradas' funding for this project in its early stages. However it is a book for readers whose knowledge of the Gibral tar problem is well informed. It is neither for the fainthearted nor those who are not steeped in the political intricacies of the events of the last two decades.

Dr Peter Gold's previous book, A Sfoue in Spain's Shoe; The Search for a Solution to the Problem of Gi braltar, published in 1994, was funded largely by a Spanish Agency and so is deemed by Gibraltarian readers to be biased in favour of the Spanish Govern ment'ssuspect case for the reintegration of the territor)' of Gibral tar into the Spanish State.

iDr Gold, after a brief introduc tion devotes two short chapters to British Gibraltar 1704-1963 and Gi braltar incommunicado September 1963-October 1979.

Then follows a detailed examina tion and analysis from the Lisbon Agreement 1979/86 to the 300th anniversary of the capture of Gi braltar by Admiral Sir George Rooke on 4th August 2004.

The book is almost entirely based on fact. Peter had the foresight to find the most effective method of reporting what actually happened to each significant event in the 25 years under review. This was sim ply to record what was published in the major publications in Gibral tar, the United Kingdom and Spain; namely The Gibraltar Chronicle, Panorama, El Pais, El Mundo, The Times and the Financial Times. This was augmented by press releases from the Gibraltar Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Foreign Office, Hansard and the reports of the Foreign Affairs Com mittee. It must be stressed that the quotations are about fact, not speculation or leak.

This reviewer, who has been fol lowing the Gibraltar problem for 43 years, can admit that on virtually each occasion when he commented on what might happen in the future he was wrong. This shows how easy it is for Governments to work in total secrecy behind the scenes and how the British and Spanish Governments manipulate what news seeps out by way of leaks to the lobby correspondents of the English and Spanish press.

This is how Tony Blair's planned betrayal of the Gibraltarians by vir tue of the Joint Sovereignty propos als was kept totally secret and leak free until Jack Straw announced it in the House of Commons.

Dr Gold shows that the British Prime Minister and the coterie of diplomats headed by Sir Emyr Jones Parry made the fundamental error in believing that they were smarter than the Chief Minister. Suddenly the British Government realised that the Gibraltar Govern ment held all the cards and,had the Labour Party entered the last Gen eral Election without placing the proposals on hold, then the Con servative Party, which was 100% behind the wishes of the Gibraltarians, would have made the future of Gibraltar a major is sue in the campaign.

Dr Gold certainly did not start this book with the intention of it becoming a paen of praise for Pe ter Caruana. But any objective reader will see how the Chief Minister has converted theory into reality by making it possible for the Gibraltar Government to talk to the Spaniards at two dis tinct levels — the Trilateral Fo rum between the three govern ments; and those with the Joint Co-operation Committee with the Association of the Councils of the Campo. The previous Chief Minister and the then Governor tried to proceed along these lines but,alas, failed. In fact it all goes back to the advice given to the Spanish Government by Lord Shepherd when he told them to start to woo the Gibraltarians rather than try to force them into subju gation. It was only when the PSOE Government of Jose Luis Zapatero came to power that a change of Spanish Government gave Peter Caruana the opportunity to see the political wheels in motion to start the Trilateral Forum; he was al ready talking to the local mayors. This is a magnificent contempo rary objective history. As expected of an academic work there are pages of detailed footnotes, a first class bibliography and an excellent index.

There are some errors of fact and in view of the Spanish sponsorship Peter plays it safe and calls the most famous Bay in the world by the Spanish Government's preferred designation — the Bay ofAlgcciras. But these do not detract from the book's importance. If a student of Gibraltar's history is restricted to two books then this should be added to General Sir William Jackson's history. The Rock of the Gibraltarians.