Prime Minister Tony Blair has been dragged into the escalating Cuban hotel crisis.
At yesterday’s Prime Minster’s question time Tony Blair was asked by Ian Davidson, Labour MP for Glasgow, South-west, if he was aware Hilton in the UK was barring Cuban delegations from staying at its hotels, after adopting the policy of its US owner.
Davidson went on to question the prime minster whether he was aware the Scottish Affairs Committee has cancelled its booking at Dundee’s Hilton hotel as a result, and if he agreed with the European Union view that US laws should not be applied to subsidiaries elsewhere in the world.
However, the prime minister refused to be drawn, and on the point of if he would raise the issue with US president George Bush replied: “I am not sure that I can promise him that I will raise the matter with the president, but I am happy to look into it and, if I can be of any help, I will be.”
Earlier in the week a group of MPs raised an early day motion at Parliament in protest of Hilton’s stance.
The controversy originally arose after a Cuban trade delegation was barred from staying at a Scandic hotel in Oslo last December.
Hilton said it had been advised that the reservation conflicted with the US trade embargo against Cuba, which as a US-owned company it is obliged to follow.
Hilton said in a statement: “Since this was a trade delegation and our actions were mandated by US law, we believe that the cancellation does not conflict with out core belief in non-discrimination.”
The US government has had an embargo on Cuba in place since 1961, as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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By Chris Druce
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